Re:Hollowfication
by CrystallineX
Summary: Karin eyed the silver-haired boy distrustfully. "And get eaten by hollows or wiped off by shinigami? No thanks." COMPLETE
1. Warming Up

**Chapter 1: Warming Up**

* * *

My new story after a longggg hiatus. =) (several years, actually...)

AN: I guess it's a little hard to stay away. But after a couple of years, I guess it's time to hit the keyboard again. I had originally developed this story a while back… before the Fake Karakura arc, so Aizen's motives may seem a bit different.

...

**Prologue**

...

"How many remain?" Asked the voice. It was a cold voice that inspired fear, a voice that the arrancar obeyed.

Yet arrancar number 38 had qualms about answering the simple question. Particularly since he knew the answer was a bad one.

When he did not receive his answer, Aizen turned around. "You must have not heard me. I asked, _how many remain_?"

Crumpling to the floor in prostration to Aizen's weighty spiritual pressure, the numeros struggled to move his mouth to give an answer. "Only 26 numeros remain. And a single Espada."

The mastermind of Karakura's near demise showed no dismay at this. Instead, he looked down at the shattered remains of the hougyouku and smiled. "A setback indeed."

The arrancar swallowed. From Aizen's tone, the setback obviously wasn't a large one.

And so Aizen disappeared from the spiritual world.

...

"Yeah, right." A silver haired boy, looking to be in his mid-to-late-teens, threw down the magazine that his lieutenant had left on his desk. It glorified the shinigami and arrancar battle, making it seem like Soul Society's epic victory, vanquishing Aizen forever.

Hitsugaya Toushirou thought of it as more like Aizen's "going underground." From the reports, he was sure Aizen Sousuke was still alive. And he wasn't the only one to think so. Any shinigami seated 3rd or higher had been informed of the probability that Aizen was plotting away somewhere, biding his time. Four years had passed relatively quietly, however, and some of the shinigami were beginning to relax. Toushirou knew better. Four years was a short duration of time compared to a century back, when the signs of Aizen's defection and hollowfication experiments had first appeared.

A rumble from his stomach interrupted the captain's thoughts. He'd sent Rangiku out to get his lunch over an hour ago, and she hadn't returned yet. The young captain groaned. She'd probably forgotten about his lunch and gone to some bar to skive off paperwork.

Well, someone had to get the paperwork done, he thought regretfully as his stomach gave another resentful grumble.

...

**Chapter 1**

Warming Up

...

A large piece of white canvas sat before her. As if it were staring. The girl stared blankly back.

Meanwhile, the art teacher looked on, unimpressed. "Kurosaki, we don't have all day, you know. The theme is 'fear.' Get crackin'."

Seeing her most obstinate student open her mouth to retort, the teacher glowered, "And before you tell me you're not scared of anything, I'm going to inform you right now that _I don't care._ Got it?"

"Loud and clear, Sensei…" sighed Karin.

"And don't just pull anything out of your ass for this. I swear, I'll fail you if you do."

Students who overheard the teacher's choice language twittered as the teacher sauntered away, satisfied that she had pulled one over on one of the tougher students. Which left Karin to glare at her canvas as if her lack of inspiration were its fault. She wasn't exactly a fountain of creativity, either.

Resisting the urge to put her foot through the problematically pristine canvas, Karin balanced the paintbrush on the tip of her index finger, thinking.

What did she, Kurosaki Karin, really fear? Death was too obvious an answer. Besides, she'd faced death before, and she hadn't been overtly scared; just resigned.

"Oi, Yuzu." Maybe she could just borrow one of her twin's fears. A fair proportion of gut instinct and pure logic told her that this would not help her, but it was still worth a try. "What are you afraid of?"

Twisting a lock of her butterscotch hair around her finger, Yuzu pondered a moment, "Well, let's see…" and then began to list, "Bugs, snakes, slimy things, dentists, zombies, the dark, the toilet bowl at night -"

Okay. That obviously wasn't going to work. No way would she draw a bug, label it as her greatest fear, and turn it in. She'd never hear the end of it from the guys.

Karin knew one thing she _was_ afraid of, but she wasn't about to draw it. Losing her family was a terrible fear, but drawing pictures of her family members lying dead was just asking for a bad omen. She didn't even want to think about it.

Sullenly, she mixed a bunch of secondary colors - the product of this mad science looked like mud. Karin smeared a dab of this obscurely dark paint onto the canvas and swiped her paintbrush across it. Maybe she could turn in some splatters and call it abstract art; at least there'd be something. If all else failed, she could just fob it off as the fear of the dark, though the teacher was sure to call her bluff.

Then it happened again. Karin felt a tingle go down her spine as she felt a familiar spike of spiritual energy some ways off.

It had been four years – she was a high school student now – since she'd found out about her brother's shinigami duties. She was fairly sure her brother could take care of himself, but it still worried her whenever her brother went against the creatures called hollows.

Well, there was her answer, then.

Pulling back her thick, jet-black hair and snapping a hair band around it to hold it up, Karin rolled up her sleeves and started mixing paint in earnest. Old Beardy (her father) would skin her alive (or perhaps just hug her to death claiming it to be "comforting" her) if she failed any assignment, even if it was just art.

...

"Dang. Kurosaki, I never knew you were into this kind of stuff."

Shrugging, Karin continued to juggle the soccer ball with her foot. "It's just art, senpai."

"Best art _I've_ ever seen from a highschool kid."

A junior year soccer teammate, Seta, held Karin's A+ painting in his hands. He jabbed a finger at the figure portrayed on the painting. "The guy in the black hakama's got orange hair. Did you base him off your brother or something?"

Seta was too observant.

"Something like that." She began to jump and switch juggling feet. Maybe he would forget about the painting if she did enough showy soccer tricks.

He didn't put down the painting like she hoped. In fact, Seta didn't even look at her as she juggled away at the ball in vain. He continued to examine the stupid painting. She should have burned the painting as soon as she'd gotten the marks back…

"The composition is really well done. The whole painting is just swirls of dark colors, so the bright orange really pulls the viewers' eyes. Like the single spark of hope in a really creepy place." What was he, some sort of art connoisseur? "Because no offense, this painting is good, but it's pretty creepy."

Snorting, Karin started bouncing the ball off of her head.

Indicating the large sword in the picture, he asked, "Why didn't you just draw a regular katana? It looks like an oversized kitchen knife."

A particularly strong splutter of laughter made Karin miss the last bounce off her head, and she caught the ball with her heel instead. So long as he didn't ask about the hollow, she thought.

"What's this big skull thing he's facing off against?"

Damn.

Luckily, right then, the coach clapped his hands and called for a huddle. "Gather up, you brats!" Putting his hands on his knees, the coach said, "Alright folks, I know this is just a scrimmage, but give it all you've got! Show 'em that we'll pull this team right to the nationals!"

After the chorus of agreement, Coach Sasaki looked over at Karin. "Kurosaki, a word?"

Wordlessly, Karin followed him, expecting a separate pep talk.

Sure enough, here it came. "Kurosaki, even if you're a freshman, everyone knows you're a talented kid. You're our number 9. Our 10, even.* The soccer star of Karakura High."

Deadpanning, Karin corrected, "My player number is actually 6, Coach. I'm a midfield winger. Captain Hiko's number 10."

The coach impatiently waved Karin's comment aside. "That's not the point. The point is that you're our top player. So focus! We _bent the rules_ for a girl to join this team, so you have to live up to it!" The coach always got worked up so easily. "Don't think I haven't noticed your head-in-the-clouds attitude on some days. Now get out there and _hustle_."

Seta patted her shoulder sympathetically as she walked out into the field. Coach had a point; Karin did get distracted once in a while - jogging up field when she should have been sprinting to take a pass; absently nutmegging* the ball when she could have safely passed to another teammate… the list went on. But it made little to no difference to the game: it was just that she was on autopilot instead of playmaking like she usually was. Only hollows got her that distracted.

_*To my knowledge, the most skilled player is often given the jersey number 10, while number 9 is for the primary goal scorer._  
_*Nutmeg: dribbling and slipping the ball past and between your opponents' legs._

...

They had crushed the opponent, the scores 6 to 2, Karin noted with satisfaction as she took a swig from a bottle of water.

"Two goals in each half time! Getting better every time, Kurosaki!"

"Keep up that kick, Kuro-chan!"

Her teammates, mostly upperclassmen, acknowledged her this way, thumping her on her back, or knuckling her head.

Saluting them half-heartedly, Karin finished off her bottle of water and chucked it into a recycling bin. Still thirsty, she looked around. Having grown under the philosophy that any unclaimed sustenance was fair game (countless times, she'd returned from late practice to find that her portion of food devoured by her father or brother) she had no qualms about taking the nearest water bottle she spied for herself.

Twisting the cap open, Karin drank about half of the water. The rest she emptied over her head.

"Oi! That was mine!" The poached bottle had apparently belonged to the team captain.

Karin grinned cheekily. "Finders keepers, Capt."

"Whatever." Hiko snorted, before he did a double take and stared at Karin for a moment. Abruptly averting his eyes with a hint of a roll, he reached into his duffle bag and threw Karin a towel, which she caught, bemused.

She gave him an odd look. "The heck's this for Capt? I have my own towel in my locker."

The soccer captain raised an eyebrow. "I just thought you might want to cover up a bit." Karin stared blankly at him, not comprehending. After a split second, Hiko muttered, "White jersey."

Finally understanding, Karin immediately fought back the blood from her cheeks and scoffed, draping the towel around her neck to hide the worst of the patches that showed through her wet jersey. Forcing a grin, Karin covered her embarrassment by teasing the captain, "What, it can't be the first time you've seen this, can it?"

Hiko shook his head as if caught between amusement and dismay. "Absolutely shameless. You. Cannot be a girl."

Though this struck a nerve, Karin said nothing in return, only adjusting the towel to cover more area of the wet patches.

"Karin-chan!"

Wheeling around to the direction of the voice, Karin saw Yuzu waving vigorously from the sidelines. Yuzu's short hair did nothing to make her look less feminine, and all the guys had noticed. Sato, the goalie, elbowed Karin and winked. Catching on quickly and disapproving, Karin, in turn, elbowed Sato in the face.

"No way are you getting your paws anywhere near my sister, buddy." Karin couldn't believe she was already slipping into the big brother role, swatting guys like Sato away from her attractive twin like flies. She had no doubt that soon they would be turning into wolves. That would be the day she'd bring her kendo sword to school.

Without a care for her wet hair, Hiko looped an arm around Karin's neck in a headlock. Karin squirmed, a bit too aware of his exercise-warmed skin against hers. Grinning roguishly, Hiko joked, "C'mon, _you're_ practically one of us now, so it'd be weird, but we'll settle for second best, huh?"

Usually, Karin would have taken the joke as a compliment in stride, but that day, she felt unduly annoyed by the captain's words. Especially when she saw a tall and slender figure waving from beside Yuzu. So her words carried a slight bite. "Capt, you've got your girlfriend waiting for you in the stands _next_ to Yuzu, so why don't you settle for _her?_"

Maneuvering out of the headlock by driving her elbow into Hiko's stomach a bit harder than necessary, Karin headed towards the locker room. Rubbing his stomach, Hiko peered at Karin's retreating back. He asked Sato, "Was it something I said?"

...

"Stupid Hiko." Karin muttered as she entered the locker room huffily. Even she herself couldn't completely understand why she felt irritated. She'd never cared about being treated like a girl before. In fact, she'd avoided it.

"So it's your own fault, then." Karin told her wet reflection flatly.

That did nothing to improve Karin's mood as she changed back into her makeshift school uniform.

As she pulled on her clothes, Karin wondered, as she examined the gray colored pants that were supposed to be part of the boy's uniform, if she should actually wear the unused skirt hanging in her closet. It was she who had filched several pairs of the pants from her older brother in the first place - he hadn't needed them since he graduated. She had to fold them a bit, but with a belt, they fit better than expected. She _was_ on the tall side. And if Ichigo noticed the pants that she wore had previously been his, he gave no sign of it.

She shrugged off any thoughts of wearing a skirt. Why should she try to fit in now? People had always accepted her for who she was, even if it took some time.

Even at the beginning of the year, she hadn't been the younger sister - nay, brother, she'd realized today - on the team. Most of her team members had resented the fact that a freshman girl had made it into the soccer team.

**Flashback:**

_"A girl's trying out? Are you serious?"_

_"What does she take the soccer team for?"_

_Karin ignored the dirty comments and even dirtier looks. She was used to that sort of treatment. When she was younger, it had only taken minor beatings to teach the boys that cooties didn't exist. As the daughter of a doctor, she didn't condone such biased treatment based on an urban myth circulating exclusively among children. It shouldn't take that long for them to get used to her, right?_

_"You can do it, Karin-chan!"_

_"Go get 'em, Kurosaki!"_

_It helped that Yuzu and other friends from elementary school (among them those who had formerly believed in cooties) cheered her on. She'd passed the team tryouts in flying colors._

_But after she'd made the team, all the other members gave her the cold shoulder. Well, except for Seta, but Seta was friendly to everyone. They avoided passing her the ball, even when she was open and unguarded._

_"If you want it, then you'll have to take it, brat." Hiko told her coldly._

_Along with ostracizing her, the team had benched her as well, for at least the first half of most games._

_"Sorry kid, since I recruited you and all, but teamwork's important. As long as the team doesn't get along with you, it's gonna be hard to keep you on the team, much less get you into the games." The coach had told her apologetically._

_So Karin could only practice on her own, forced to run along the sidelines during intra-team scrimmages. There seemed little she could do. She could hardly beat them over the head like she had the boys back in elementary school, for discriminating against her. All she could do was prove herself._

_Finally, one match when they'd been losing three to nothing, Karin got her chance. The captain had gotten injured in a slide tackle. During the pause in the game, overseen by a referee, Hiko, wincing, peeled off his shin guard to reveal an already purpling bruise. Immediately, he slapped the guard back on, and said, "I've had worse. I can still play."_

_The coach overruled him, "That's not just a surface bruise. It could even be a fracture. Don't push it. Live to fight another day. The opposing team's already scored three goals."_

_Hiko caved, allowing himself to be applauded off the field. Then, the coach ordered, "Kurosaki, get in. Center midfield."_

_"Yessir!"_

_..._

_Skipping over a slide tackle similar to one that had felled the team captain, Karin took the moment of distraction to sprint ahead through the defense with the ball in her possession. With the goal in sight, she aimed at the goalpost, as if to pass to the teammate near it, but intending to let it rebound right back to her; when it did, she immediately scored it in._

_"And player 6 scores again! Four to three, with Karakura High now in the lead!"_

_After switching in as a midfielder, Karin had turned the game around, allowing Karakura to win, four to three. That game had finally forced her teammates to acknowledge her._

_"Damn, and I'd really thought that you made the team by dumb luck."_

_"Nice playmaking there, kiddo."_

_"Welcome to the team, for real this time." Seta smiled._

_The captain alone, with an ice pack on his leg, gave no word of compliment. Hiko asked, "Are we done fawning over the newbie?"_

_Even the other members were taken aback by the seemingly blatant hostility that still remained._

_"But now she's really one of us –"_

_Rolling his eyes, Hiko cut in, "Shut up. She's been on the team this whole time, you idiots. She's always been one of us. Let's get some pizza." He winked at Karin, who couldn't help but grin back._

_"Thanks, Capt." Glancing at his leg, however, she pointed out, "But shouldn't we get you to a hospital first?"_

**End of flashback**

The newfound camaraderie with her teammates had made for a welcome change. Well, she'd figured that they'd all warm up at one point or another anyways. Late night soccer game reviews and sports get togethers were all pretty fun.

"Hypocrite," Karin chided herself, "You wanted them to treat you like a guy, and now you're complaining because they won't ever see you as a girl."

Besides, Hiko had a girlfriend, anyways. A pretty one.

Seta was waiting for her outside the locker room. Karin raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how weird it looks for a guy to loiter around the girl's locker room, senpai?"

Grinning, Seta replied cheerfully, "What, no thanks for waiting?"

Despite herself, Karin grinned back. "As always."

They walked together until their routes home diverged. But Seta hesitated. "You don't look so good, Kurosaki. What's up?"

Though slightly startled he would voice his concern, Karin knew that she should have expected the upperclassman to notice. As always, he was most perceptive when she didn't want it. Wavering over what to say, Karin decided on blunt denial, "Nothing's wrong. Just tired. I scored four of the goals today, you know." After half a year of acquaintance, she knew that even soccer wouldn't distract Seta from a topic in conversation, but she plowed forward anyways. "That's better than the Capt. today."

"Are you still mad at Hiko from earlier today?"

Spot on, as expected of Seta. Aggressively, Karin kicked at a nearby pebble. "What's there to be mad about? He was just goofing off, wasn't he? The usual foot in the mouth syndrome."

She avoided Seta's eyes, which she knew were filled with pity. Pity for her. Pity she didn't want or need. Unable to stand the sudden turn the discussion had taken, Karin noted it was almost at the point where Seta would have to take a different turn. Abruptly, she said, "I'll head home now, senpai. Thanks for walking with me."

She walked straight forward without looking back at the figure of Seta, whom she knew was still probably looking at her. To keep herself from thinking about Hiko, Karin talked to herself, something she usually avoided; she liked the down-to-earth image of sanity she embodied.

"Yuzu should be at home cooking by now… Ichi-nii is probably still studying at the university… "

Just to make sure, she cast a feel around, scanning silently for the familiar spiritual energies in Karakura.

Sure enough, Yuzu was at home, or somewhere near it, Tatsuki already back from the university, and Ichi-nii and the rest of his friends, excluding Rukia-chan the shinigami, some distance off.

There was one unfamiliar spiritual presence nearby, however, and Karin frowned, concentrating on it.

"Who…?"

...

A/N: I wonder how people will like how this goes? :D For those who think it's boring so far, no worries, it'll take off pretty soon.


	2. Awakening

**Chapter 2: Awakening**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

...

**Chapter 2**

Awakening

...

An unfamiliar spiritual presence was lurking nearby. Concentrating on it, Karin felt it's proximity and realized why it had been difficult to sense; it had been concealed.

"Who…?"

Straining to pinpoint the location, Karin finally discerned the general direction of the presence.

But when she had made her way to the corner of the street, she saw nothing. Puzzled, Karin swept another look using her spiritual sense. This time, she felt nothing. Unsettled, Karin returned to the Kurosaki Clinic at a quicker pace than usual. Though she disliked the idea of fearing anything, per usual, the world of hollows had taught her some caution.

As testament to her unease, Karin felt uncharacteristically relieved to see her father's scruffy face greet her in its usual too-close-for-comfort-you-stupid-old-man manner. Even without Ichi-nii around, home felt like a safe place.

"Karin-chan! Come, run into your father's arms!"

Even so, she wasn't quite unsettled enough to acquiesce to that request. Pushing one palm out to keep her incoming father at bay, Karin called out flatly, "I'm home." Her usual annoyance towards her father made her completely forget about the unidentifiable spiritual presence she had felt before. Why had she felt uneasy again?

As she pushed past the "ol' beardy" who was continuing his attempts to hug his daughter in vain, Karin sniffed the air. "What's this smell?"

As an answer, Yuzu came padding out, holding some undoubtedly delicious confection between her two oven-mitted hands. Smiling, she called, "Welcome back Karin-chan! It's apple pie today."

Taking off her shoes, Karin craned her neck over to look at the steaming pie in all its crumbled granola crust and Yuzu's-super-secret-homemade-saucy glory.

"Looks great."

Smile brightly, Yuzu began to babble, "I wanted to improve on the recipe they gave in home ec. class today. I used some more cinnamon and tried a brown sugar replacement. And I kept the apple skin for nutrition - "

As tasty as the pie smelled, Karin didn't feel hungry – which was odd, considering how she'd played a soccer scrimmage that day. Heading for the bathroom, Karin said, "I'll have some later, Yuzu. I'm gonna take a shower first, then maybe a nap."

Grimacing, Karin painstakingly pulled her hair tie out, wincing as she heard - and felt - strands of hair being pulled from her scalp in the process. One hair band and about thirty strands of hair later, Karin had freed her hair. For the second time that day – which, for her, seemed like two times too many – Karin looked at her reflection. Her black hair was a tangled mess from soccer practice, grown past her shoulders. She'd been due a haircut a while now, but hadn't gotten around to it for some reason. Long hair got in the way during soccer practice, but Hiko had once complimented her hair.

_"You know, long hair suits you too, Kurosaki."_ He'd said. Though taken aback, after that, Karin had conveniently been 'too lazy' to cut her hair.

Catching herself in that train of thought, Karin slapped her forehead. "Ugh… that's it. I need a haircut. Maybe next week." She entertained herself with the unlikely fantasy of how her father would react if shaved her head bald.

Later that day, Karin lay in her bed trying (and failing miserably) to take a nap. The only things circulating in Karin's head seemed to be useless things. Femininity, the skirt uniform, cooking ability, and her suspicious lack of all three, and whether she cared or not. Whenever Hiko's face popped up in her head, it seemed like she did care. And she wondered why. But it was obvious. Flipping over onto her back, Karin thought, '_Oh, how we all fall._' Kurosaki Karin, in love?

It was laughable.

The girl feared as the successor of the infamous Kurosaki Ichigo at Karakura high, distracted over some guy. Well, he wasn't _just some_ guy. He was the captain of the soccer team, someone she respected. Perhaps it helped that he had a good sense of humor. But what was the point? Two things that Karin told herself she didn't believe in, even if they did exist: ghosts and love. The first one was just out of pure stubbornness, especially since she could see, talk to, and even touch ghosts. But the second one she truly didn't believe in.

_'If I have time to think about this, I might as well train more for the nationals…'_ Karin mused to herself, before she drifted into sleep.

...

The next morning, per usual, Karin woke up to the sounds of movement. She knew it was her busy-bee twin getting ready to cook breakfast. Turning her face slightly out of the pillow to look at the clock, Karin groaned. Six o'clock…

"Morning, Karin-chan!" Yuzu chirped at Karin, upon seeing the black mop of hair move and realizing the head attached to it was awake.

Knowing it was too late to play dead for an extra few minutes of sleep, Karin rolled over in bed. In a groggy voice, she replied, "G'morn…"

Fighting off sleep, Karin suited up for a morning run. Might as well be productive, and get in better shape for the upcoming district soccer tournament.

As she ran, Karin suddenly felt a sinister flare of energy, which disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared. Slowing to a stop, Karin figured it as Ichigo eradicating a hollow. Shrugging off another twinge of unease, Karin returned to looping around the neighborhood for her run.

...

"Yuzu!"

Karin's uncharacteristically panicked voice brought Yuzu running. With wide eyes, Karin's counterpart asked, "What's wrong, Karin-chan? "

Pointing to the closet, Karin asked shakily, "Where's my extra uniform?" She always kept at least 3 school uniforms (well, her version of it) to alternate between laundry days. But not a single uniform hung in her closet that day. She could have sworn she'd had at least one uniform left until laundry day.

Apologetically, Yuzu explained, "I had to do laundry a day early because of Ichi-nii. He came back yesterday with his clothes so dirty that I couldn't not wash it. Maybe you're extra uniform got mixed in."

Karin slapped her forehead, and not noticing her sister's exasperation, Yuzu wrinkled her nose disapprovingly, "He was covered with dust." she added in afterthought.

Meanwhile, Karin was a snitch away from breaking school rules and showing up without a uniform. If they were all wet and in the laundry, there was nothing she could do about it. Unfortunately, with a goody-two-shoes as a twin sister, nothing ever goes as planned...

...

That day at school, Karin received many stares. To an ordinary bystander, she would have done nothing to warrant such stares. Wearing a uniform like anybody else with one bag slung over her shoulder, she looked like any other student, though perhaps a little more irritable looking.

But to everybody in Karakura High, Kurosaki Karin was breaking all the unsaid rules and norms that people had come to expect of her: she was wearing a skirt. And every comment regarding her attire put Karin in a worse mood.

Teachers, however, rejoiced at this sudden change.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day, Kurosaki."

"So tell me, it was my wonderful guidance which led you to this change of attire, no?"

Karin did her best to swallow the teachers' comments, and even bit back most of the retorts towards the other students. Unfortunately, this patience had long since worn down by the time soccer practice rolled round. On the way to the locker rooms, which Karin admitted she'd rather hastily made her way to, she was spotted.

"Kurosaki? Is that you?"

Rolling her eyes up to the heavens and sending a silent plea, Karin turned around. Just as she'd expected. There was Seta. And of course, right beside him was the last person she'd wanted to see or be seen by: Hiko.

Seta nudged Hiko, "Hey Captain, it's Kurosaki."

As soon as Karin's eyes met his, immediately, Hiko closed the gap between them with his long legs. Peering at Karin, he asked, "Who are are you and what have you done with Kurosaki Karin?"

Rolling her eyes, Karin replied flatly, "I ate her." She backed away a bit; he was too close.

Continuing his facade of confusion, Hiko put one hand to her forehead. "Are you sick, Kurosaki? You look cute and all, but suddenly doing things that you've never done before - " Karin was feeling less and less amused by the minute. Without a care that she was wearing a skirt, she landed a well-aimed kick to Hiko's head and stalked off into the locker rooms. Rubbing his injured jaw, Hiko managed, "She was wearing black..."

Seta shook his head. Maybe it was just as well that the two were dense.

...

Still steaming with anger, Karin all but stomped into the changing room, fully intending to rip open her locker to yank out her soccer jersey and cleats and jam them on. But before she actually got around to tearing off the locker door, there was a splintering crash from above. Instinctively, Karin threw herself backwards to avoid getting hit. Crouched on the ground, Karin looked up to see a large figure past the dust and debris. She narrowed her eyes. This _would_ happen on the day she was wearing a skirt.

"Che... I had a bad feeling about today."

It was seldom that a hollow would come to find her directly. Usually, she would first sense it's presence and, soccer ball in hand (or foot as the case would be), go hollow hunting. This one, with its white skeletal mask and claws, stood still momentarily before raising its head and emitting a dull roar. Cursing, Karin dashed out of the locker room. She had to get it away from the school. Running with all her might, Karin growled, "Shouldn't have listened to Yuzu! Nothing ever good happens when I wear skirts!"

She heard another howl and several more crashes from behind her. Of course the monster would give chase. Hopefully the small space would slow it down some. As she turned round the corner, she saw Seta and Hiko again, this time with the other soccer players. Wide eyed, they immediately rushed towards her, exclaiming,

"Kurosaki!"

"What was that sound?" Sato asked worriedly.

Someone else exclaimed, "The girl's locker room is completely destroyed!"

Scanning the team, Karin saw that none of them had a soccer ball. Some soccer team they were. So she'd be going weaponless. Swearing under her breath, she shoved her teammates aside and said roughly, "No time to talk. Can't practice today. Tell Coach sorry."

The rest of the team, confused and unable to the see the hollow, yelled after her, "Oi, Kurosaki!" "Kuro-chan!"

Paying them no attention, Karin went back to focusing on luring the hollow away from Karakura High. Her legs felt uncomfortably bare as she ran in the stupidly flapping skirt. As she glanced over her shoulder, she saw the hollow bounding towards her some distance behind. Karin narrowed her eyes. There was something strange about this hollow. It didn't seem so accustomed to its body as it lumbered along; a newly fallen soul? That wasn't the only odd thing; the thing that bothered her most was how Karin had failed to notice the hollow's presence beforehand.

"Kurosaki!"

Momentarily, she froze. That voice.

"Capt Hiko!" Why had he come here?

Karin swiveled around to see Hiko panting, with a fearful expression that she had never seen him wear before. It was as if he could actually see the hollow.

"Kurosaki... what _is _that thing?" Eyes wide, Hiko's eyes were glued on the hollow.

She was beginning to swear like a sailor. It would take about 20 seconds for the hollow to reach them, she reasoned. Then the hollow, apparently getting the hang of its body, started approaching with alarming speed. Maybe 15 seconds, then. Karin told Hiko, "Don't worry about it. Leave this to me. Go back to the school."

10 seconds. Looking indignant, Hiko protested, "But you're a girl! I can't leave you alone with that monster! Besides, I – "

5 seconds. Snorting, Karin said, "Save your chauvinistic chivalry for another time, Capt. There's no time to argue." 3 seconds. "MOVE!" screamed Karin, pushing Hiko away from its path.

Leaping onto a fence for higher ground, Karin jumped off to greet the approaching hollow, aiming a powerful drop kick to its white mask. With a loud crack, the mask splintered into two. She momentarily saw a girl's face before the hollow, mask and all, disintegrated.

_'What?'_ She could have sworn that she'd seen that face somewhere before.

Hiko gave a strangled shout, "Sachi!" Karin whirled around. It was a senpai of hers, one that she'd seen hanging out with Hiko and his girlfriend often.

"That was... Sachi-senpai? But I saw her earlier today - " abruptly, she stopped speaking. With her spiritual senses heightened, she had detected another spiritual presence nearby. Obviously, things weren't over yet.

"Kurosaki, what's going on? What happened to Sachi?"

The presence was neither shinigami nor hollow. In a split second, Karin placed herself between Hiko and the presence in a defensive stance.

"Get down!" Karin commanded.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. "Urgh!" She clamped a hand down on the stinging wound, clenching her teeth.

Carefully keeping pressure on her neck, Karin slowly shuffled towards the place where she had briefly felt the alien presence.

The spiritual energy was gone.

Karin barely had time to feel confusion before a blinding pain seared through her body. Whiteness clouded the edges of her vision. For a few moments, Karin was rendered immobile from the pain. Legs unable to support her body, she fell to her knees. Gasping, she coughed out, "Capt... get... away..."

"Kurosaki! Kurosaki, what's wrong? Hang on, I'll get help!" Hiko called in a panicked voice.

As soon as it had come, the pain subsided. But the whiteness at the edges of her vision remained. Bewildered, Karin began to run, with the singular thought of returning home before anything else happened. She had to leave the place before she involved Hiko any further.

As she ran past one of the shop windows, Karin stopped abruptly, hoping to whatever agnostic powers existed that what she had just glimpsed in her reflection was a figment of her imagination. But she'd never had much of an imagination in the first place. Fighting back panic tinged with dread, Karin stepped closer to the window's surface and examined her reflection. She barely recognized the sharp intake of breath she heard to be her own. "What the…"

A white, plaster-like mask was forming on her face. It was materializing out of nothing – from air, from her own eyes and mouth – clumping and forming around her eyes and forehead. The mask was growing every second, and Karin felt a jolt of fear and disbelief.

"No… What is this! I can't be! I'm not…"

'Dead' was the word she wanted. But now she wasn't sure. Was this what had happened to Sachi-senpai?

Instinctively, Karin glanced down at her torso and brought up her hands to probe the area around her sternum. There was no hole.

Any previous worry, any irritation with Hiko, with Seta, her own boyish image… all seemed insignificant. In that moment, Karin couldn't have cared less. For the first time after her initial encounters with hollows, Karin felt true fear, which amplified as a terrible hunger ripped through her. The hunger seemed to gnaw at her very essence, tearing the fabric of her mind into shreds.

With what consciousness remained in her, Karin ran.

The part of Karin, where her sanity was yet intact, barely led her body's actions. She couldn't go home; not while she was becoming like one of those masked monsters.

And so she ran to a place where she knew no one would be. Tatsuki's karate camp training forest.

...

Hungry and irritable, Toushirou left his office, heading to a lunch stand to buy some food. When he felt a familiar presence nearby, Toushirou briefly considered rerouting. But he was too hungry to care.

So it came as no surprise to the young captain when Ukitake Juushirou, the 13th division captain, popped up seemingly from nowhere.

"Why hello there!"

Whenever they met, the older captain always gave Toushirou candy or snacks. As if he were still a kid. But for once, Toushirou didn't mind being treated like a kid. He was too hungry to refuse free food.

Immediately and predictably, Ukitake started to fish out bags of melon bread, lollipops and other miscellaneous sweets from his pockets and piling them onto Toushirou's hands. When it seemed he had exhausted his supply of snacks and both were sitting down, Ukitake commented, "You've grown a lot lately, Hitsugaya-taichou. Did you notice?"

Though he shrugged nonchalantly in answer while chowing down a loaf of melon-bread in two bites, Toushirou had, in fact, been acutely aware of his sudden growth spurt these past years. Far be it from the short kid to not notice that he'd sprouted up almost half a meter when his height was his biggest complex.

Pausing mid-bite on his third melon bread, Toushirou asked, "Ukitake, did you hear about the new nominee for the 5th division captain seat? And this time, the Commander's actually considering it."

Something as important as that would be common news to anyone else, but when it came to Ukitake, who was down with an illness more often than not, one was never sure.

Sure enough, it was new information to the 13th Division captain. "Oh? It's about time. Captains Abarai and Shuuhei took charge soon enough, but no one had the will to claim the 5th division. Superstition and fear of bad karma, one might suppose. If only Lieutenant Hinamori hadn't..."

Toushirou stiffened, chewing slowing to a stop.

Realizing too late that the female lieutenant remained a rather sore subject for the young captain, Ukitake rose. "Well, thank you for the update, I'll be off now."

Nodding pensively, Toushirou watched the fragile captain go, his thoughts now filled with memories that he'd have rather not remembered.

...

"Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm… Keep -" Karin chanted. Having run into the heart of the forest, Karin had already torn apart numerous trees while seeking refuge, though she had no idea what kind.

In a wild haze, Karin had tried in vain to pry the mask off of her face. Her fingers scrabbled over the hard, smooth surface, searching for some weakness in its material. While thus preoccupied, Karin noticed almost too late the hollow that had snuck up behind her. With a strangled yell that sounded eerily similar to the cry that the attacking hollow too emitted, Karin let out an explosion of spiritual pressure from her body, completely annihilating the attacker as well as a few more trees.

Hunched over, hands still on her face and mask, Karin again returned to her mantra.

"Keep calm. Keep calm… Stay calm."

...

Kurosaki Isshin unfolded a newspaper, mumbling to himself, as he ambled from his clinic.

"Three people disappeared yesterday…"

Yuzu looked up from her pan of stir-fry. "Hmm, Daddy? What did you say?"

Hastily folding the newspaper, Isshin smiled widely as he replied, "Nothing, nothing at all! What's for dinner today, Yuzu-chaaaan?"

Ichigo, from behind, picked up the newspaper.

"Three people missing, eh?"

He climbed upstairs to his room and dumped his university books on the bed, taking out his Shinigami representative badge and a soul society cell phone. Dialing a number, he waited for the call to connect.

"Oi Rukia."

"_Ichigo. Good timing. I was just about to call you. But FIRST, shouldn't you greet me in a more formal manner?"_

"How? And why?"

"_Like, 'Rukia-sama.' Or at least, a 'how do you do,' you ingrate. A man should know how to say pretty words to a pretty lady."_

Ichigo laughed despite himself. "You can't seriously be expecting that from me. And I'll thank you stop suggesting I'm not a man." His voice changed. "But I didn't call for idle talk."

Rukia's voice became serious as well. _"I'm well aware. People have been disappearing in Karakura. Soul Society has been keeping an eye on this, but it seems like the souls are just disappearing, only leaving behind a corpse with no particular cause of death."_

"Wait, so they're all dead? The news said they're just missing. No bodies."

"_Yes. When Soul Society could not sense any souls for the corresponding bodies, we dispatched a squad to bring back the bodies for examination. So far, from what I've heard, traces of some sort of spiritual infection are in all of the bodies."_

Furrowing his brow even more, if possible, Ichigo reported, "I've been feeling weird spiritual energies all day. And I haven't seen any ghosts the past few days either."

After a brief of static, and Rukia informed Ichigo, _"There was an attack near Karakura High too. The squads didn't find any of the spirits yet, but be on alert. There are some irregular hollow activities as well. Ukitake-Taichou says that the cases look a lot like the hollowfication cases from a century back. Keep a close eye on your family, because people with high spiritual pressures might be the targets."_

Ichigo felt his blood run cold.

"Karin."

"_Hm?" _Rukia inquired.

"She's not back yet. Karin should have come home an hour ago."

...

The hunger ate away at Karin's sanity, and remembering herself barely kept the hunger at bay. At times Karin found herself almost magnetically attracted to spiritual energies, such as hollows, by an unceasing hunger. It was all she could do to keep herself from devouring other hollows, which was a nauseating thought in itself.

All this while, the mask continued to materialize. A little less than half of Karin's face was now encased in a white mask.

Thinking kept Karin's mind off of her insatiable hunger. So Karin analyzed her situation the best she could, though she could barely keep from panicking as she did. With her usual caustic frankness, she listed, "I am transforming into a monster. Fellow monsters can find me. I can destroy the fellow monsters attempting to eat me. At one point, a shinigami will find me…"

She trailed off in horror. What if Ichi-nii found her?

Would he have to kill her?

The particles of her mask gathered more quickly at the edges as she panicked. Hit by the realization that agitation sped up the growth of the mask, Karin swallowed, forcing herself back into calm by reciting, "Keep calm. Keep calm."

Suppressing her hunger, Karin huddled up into a knot at the base of a tree, willing herself to not move in a desperate attempt to keep the mask from forming completely. There had to be something she could do.

...

A/N: Sorry this update took so long ^^ And midterms encroach! x_X Will update as soon as I can, though. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	3. The Second Fall

**Chapter 3: The Second Fall**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

Author note: This fanfic follows only the canon parts of the Bleach series. Sorry folks, but the "episode 132" is not included in this fic.

...

**Chapter 3**

The Second Fall

...

"After examination, the bodies have all shown signs of spiritual infection. It is slightly different from the one Soul Society encountered a century back, not only because the people seem to have been infected by way of a needle, but also because of the way spiritual energy particles seem to react to the infection…"

Rangiku stifled a yawn, only half-understanding what the lab-coat clad shinigami were saying. She would have yawned openly, if only her captain wasn't giving her 'the look.' 'Matsumoto, pay attention' is what he seemed to be saying. If only he weren't so uptight, he would be more popular among the younger female shinigami…

"- ghosts are also being transformed - "

This was so boring...

"- and so, before we finish this briefing, we have decided it best if some shinigami volunteer to go to the human world – "

At this, Rangiku's ears perked up. The human world? That was practically a vacation! All the shopping, the interesting foods, maybe she could even visit Orihime-chan! Immediately, she raised a hand and volunteered herself, "I'll go!"

Glancing at her captain, who was now staring daggers at her, Rangiku said cheerfully, "And Taichou would love to go as well! Right, Taichou?"

...

Raking his hands through his silver hair irately, Toushirou stalked down main hall of the 10th Division quarters. Great. So now he was stuck with the job of investigating what was happening in the human world. He should have foreseen that something like this would happen with Matsumoto around. How many years had he known her?

He knew that she was one of the luckier ones from the battle four years ago; she had been able to move past the man she had loved. She had been able to move beyond the man named Ichimaru Gin. She had lived to tell the day. Not like some.

As he passed by Rangiku's office, he saw his lieutenant in question whistling and tucking things into a rather large bag, which he assumed she would be taking with her to the human world. Sighing, he walked towards his own rooms to prepare.

...

If it were any Karakura mission, of course Kuchiki Rukia, now Lieutenant of the 13th Division, was a required presence. Believe it or not, she was actually looking forward to seeing Ichigo again. He couldn't have gotten even taller in the few months she hadn't seen him, could he? Last she'd seen he'd already caught up to Renji's height. A smile rose to her lips at the thought. But the smile vanished when she remembered one of Ichigo's younger sisters might have become involved. In fact, it was surprising that such a thing hadn't happened before. She'd noticed at first glance that Karin had possessed spiritual pressure as strong as Ichigo's prior to his shinigami transformation. Such high spiritual pressure would have made her an ideal victim for hollowfication…

But that was the worst-case scenario; hopefully, Ichigo was just overreacting, per usual. The carrot top was overly protective, after all.

At least she'd finally get to use her Chappy Soul Candy once more.

...

The three shingami stood before the gates to the human world, one heavily laden with baggage. Three small hell moths fluttered before them, awaiting the opening of the gate. But before they passed through the gate, there seemed to be a few things to clear. Though he'd expected it, having walked past her rooms himself and seen her pack an unquestionably large amount of items, Toushirou could not help but voice disapprovingly, "You're really bringing all that, Matsumoto?"

The lieutenant, who knew her captain well enough to figure out how best deal with the situation, smiled brightly and said, "At least I'm not making you carry my stuff, Taichou. Besides, it's good to be well prepared, isn't it?" She didn't mention how half the things were her toiletries.

Snorting softly, Toushirou gave no answer. The point wasn't worth arguing. Kuchiki Rukia stood to his other side, seemingly lost in thought.

"Something worrying you, Kuchiki?"

Sharply, Rukia looked up. "Sorry, Hitsugaya Taichou. I just received word from Ichigo that his sister was missing…"

Toushirou heard a sharp intake of breath from Rangiku. The news was grim indeed. "So there's a possibility that Kurosaki's sister is also one of the infected souls." Toushirou finished. It looked as if they had little time to waste.

"So we're all aware of the situation. Ready?" The captain asked.

His two companions nodded, and the three followed their hell moths to the human world.

...

To the aforementioned carrot top, the current situation felt nothing like a vacation, a chore, or a chance to see an old friend. This was Karin – his sister – and her life possibly on the line. Gripping his orange hair so tightly that he almost tore it out by the roots, Ichigo closed his eyes and focused his spiritual pressure for the thousandth time. _'Where is she? She couldn't have gone far,'_ he reasoned. She should still be in Karakura. Sighing, Ichigo almost gave up – spiritual energy control, much less detection, had never been his forté. He shook his head and lying back on his bed, tried harder to pinpoint Karin.

After getting off of the phone with Rukia, he had been filled with dread. His sister was out there somewhere, and chances were that something had happened her.

The door creaked open. "Onii-chan…"

Ichigo looked up in reply to Yuzu's voice. "Yuzu. Is Karin back yet?" He already knew the answer would be a negative. If Karin had returned, he would have felt it, no matter how bad his spiritual detection was. Yuzu shook her head worriedly and informed him, "But Hiko-senpai is here. He wants to talk to you. He looks a bit… odd."

Slowly, Ichigo stood up and followed Yuzu out of his room.

"Ichigo-senpai!"

Having once been Hiko's upperclassman, Ichigo knew Hiko by face, and had become somewhat acquainted during one of Karin's soccer games. Immediately, Ichigo saw that Hiko was deeply disturbed. The tall and built soccer captain, usually grinning or joking around, was uncharacteristically pale and unsteady on his feet.

"Karin… Karin is…!"

Taking Hiko outside of the house and out of hearing from his father and Yuzu, Ichigo grabbed Hiko by the shoulders, he asked, "What happened? You know what happened to Karin?"

Breathing irregularly, Hiko murmured something incoherently before stammering, "She needs help. Sh– she – faced off against this… thing - it was Sachi… afterwards something happened - she fell down, clutching her neck... so I went to get help but by the time I got back she wasn't there anymore…"

Ichigo could barely make heads or tails out of Hiko's jumbled stutters. Furrowing his brow further, Ichigo shook Hiko a bit, "Get a hold of yourself! You're not making any sense!"

But before he could get anything more out of the disoriented soccer captain, a black clothed arm shot out, covering Hiko's eyes. Taken aback, Ichigo stepped back. A familiar black-haired shinigami caught Hiko as the boy fell back, unconscious. Flooded with mixed feelings of relief at seeing a familiar face and irritation at being thwarted from any information concerning his younger sister, Ichigo cried out, "Rukia - !"

"You're the one who needs to get a hold of yourself, idiot." Rukia scolded Ichigo, jumping up to bash down on the head of the orange-haired shinigami.

"Ow! What was that for?" But the sudden pain helped him regain some of his senses. Returning to more like usual self and rubbing his head, Ichigo noticed the other spiritual presences from behind and above him. Rukia hadn't come alone.

"Ichigo~~ Long time no see!" A busty woman with long curly hair – none other than Matsumoto Rangiku playfully grabbed Ichigo from behind. If Rangiku-san was here, then the spiritual pressure on top of the roof would belong to – Ichigo glimpsed the white of a captain's cloak.

"Toushirou!"

Rolling his eyes, Toushirou corrected, "It's Hitsugaya Taichou to you, Kurosaki."

Recovering, Ichigo protested, "But why'd you guys knock him out? He might know something!"

"We'll examine his memories to analyze the situation. That will be more accurate. We need to set finding the missing souls and their corresponding bodies as our priority." Hitsugaya Toushirou informed Ichigo coolly. Jumping off from the roof and landing in front of the orange-haired shinigami, he angled his head to look into Ichigo's eyes directly, "One of whom is possibly your sister, I believe?"

...

"You! You weird hollow! I will exterminate you!"

A shinigami with an afro was chasing after Karin.

Truth be told, when she'd first espied the shinigami, she'd been less terrified of being killed than she had been by the sudden rise in her appetite. (She was a human, damnit! Afros - nor the souls they were attached to - weren't supposed to look tasty!) She'd seen the bumbling afro shinigami around a few times, and she'd never seen him finish off a hollow even once. He was a stupid fellow, but somehow he'd found her.

"You think you can hide from me! You weirdo - " Midsentence, the man tripped over his own hakama, and landed face forward into the dirt. Getting up hastily and pretending as if nothing embarrassing had happened, the afro shinigami began calling her names.

Under her breath, Karin muttered, "Even if I get killed, it won't be by that idiot."

She was currently hiding behind a tree. Given that her peripheral vision was now severely limited on the right side by her mask, Karin peered around the tree to her left, and saw that the afro shinigami had moved on, presumably to search for her. She sighed in relief. In the last half day, she'd improved at hiding her spiritual pressure considerably.

Just in case, Karin further repressed her spiritual pressure and climbed into a tree. The verb "climbed" being used in the loosest sense. To be more accurate, she'd leapt up into it. Her body was starting to perform feats she had previously believed impossible for humans. Sure, Karin had seen Ichi-nii hanging around rooftops and running in the air a couple times, but she'd never imagined doing it herself. _'What a change,'_ she thought.

It was about time for her family to start getting worried. Karin sighed dully at the thought, and noted that the formation of her mask had slowed down after the afro shinigami had gone. It just proved her theory that the mask's growth slowed down when she was calmer.

"No hollows, no shinigami… It's okay." Karin told herself.

She was safe for now. But she was still hungry.

...

Rangiku peered closely at a small, framed picture in Ichigo's room. "So this is your family?"

It was a picture of the scruffy Kurosaki Isshin with a headlock on Ichigo, with a young Karin and Yuzu posing normally, Yuzu perhaps a bit more cutely.

Without looking up from Toushirou and Rukia's mysterious work, Ichigo gave a vague noise of assent. Though he didn't really understand how the process worked, he knew the memories they were extracting out from Hiko were important. Whatever the manner in which they were performing the operation, the cellphone seemed to be recording the memories.

**Kakukai* = Memory uncover Kakuchou = memory clarify**

Finally, Toushirou closed the cell phone and stood up, dusting off his haori. "That should be enough."

Rukia informed Ichigo, "We've modified his memory so he won't have any recollection of what happened today. His mind will just make up a possible explanation. The kid himself didn't take any spiritual damage, so it should be fine."

Toushirou commanded, "Matsumoto, take this human back to his home."

Rangiku balked at the order. "Eeeeh? Why me?"

At this, Toushirou gave her an annoyed look. "What, you want your captain to do it?" Even so, he seemed to be about to pick up the human boy.

Seeing Toushirou about to acquiesce to his lieutenant and carry Hiko back himself, Ichigo cut in, "It should be fine to leave him at our clinic. My old man can look after him. Why don't we look over his memories instead?"

Shrugging, the young captain replied, "Do as you like." Less work for him.

Knowing that Ichigo's impatience was due to his worry, Rukia put a sympathetic hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We'll find her."

Though he gave no answer, Ichigo's eyes softened. In the few years of peace, he'd forgotten how comforting it was to have familiar shinigami comrades around him. Sado, Ishida, and Inoue weren't around as much as before, either. In fact, Ishida had gone off to Todai (Tokyo Daigaku) because of his good grades.

Meanwhile, Toushirou flipped open the cellphone-ish device once again and after pressing a few buttons, placed it on the ground. After a moment, it emitted a whirring noise. Soon enough, it projected a large screen than began to play images.

At this, Ichigo immediately dove to get a closer look at the screen. The scenes seemed to be playing from Hiko's viewpoint. The voices of the recording sounded clearly.

_"What was that sound?"_

_"The girl's locker room is completely destroyed!"_

"_No time to talk. Can't practice today. Tell Coach sorry." _That was Karin's voice!

Ichigo's eyes were glued to the screen as it played the scene of Karin running by and roughly shoving people aside, followed shortly by an awkwardly moving hollow. An echoing voice shouted,_'What is that thing?'_ in fear, and Ichigo realized with a jolt that it was Hiko's thoughts. Then the viewpoint from which they were watching began moving as well, following Karin. _'Kurosaki! That thing is chasing her!' _Hiko thoughts sounded again.

_"Kurosaki!" – 'Finally caught up with her!' _Hiko's thoughts overlapped with the sounds of his memories.

_"Capt Hiko!"_

_"Kurosaki… What is that thing?" – 'It looks like it has some skull mask…'_

As they watched the video intently, an amusing, out-of-place thought occurred to the white haired captain.

_'She's thinking about taking that thing on by herself! No! I can't let her… I have to protect this girl –'_

That human boy had feelings for Kurosaki Ichigo's younger sister? Irrelevant, but amusing nonetheless. So humans became so brash for the sake of protecting others. His turquoise eyes clouded a bit at the thought. He, too, had once been the same in order to protect the one he loved. _'Momo…' _Shaking himself free of his own thoughts, he returned to monitoring the recording. He watched, rather impressed, as Kurosaki's younger sister, in human state alone – without any sort of transformation like Sado Yasutora, or any spiritual manifestation like Inoue Orihime - single-handedly (or rather, footedly) defeated the hollow.

_"Sachi!"_

So the two had known the soul who had been a hollow. The medical squad had already found her body at school, which they had confirmed before heading to Ichigo's house. But at this point, the screen started getting fuzzy. Ichigo cursed. "Oi, what's going on?"

Toushirou murmured, "Memory contamination. The trauma affected his memories."

On the screen, Karin darted off to another side, and yelled, _"Get down!" _before clamping a hand to her neck as if injured. At that moment, Toushirou suddenly leaned forward and paused the screen. Due to the contamination, the screen was dark and blurry in general, but Karin's face was clear enough for the shinigami to see her dilated pupils, and expression of pain. After a moment of examination, Toushirou pressed play again, at which point, the memory was too damaged to reveal much more. As for the trace of white substance gathering at the edges of Kurosaki Karin's face, Toushirou was not sure if the others had noticed.

While the others examined Hiko's memories again, Toushirou allowed himself to look around at the room, trying to organize his thoughts. His eyes landed on the picture Rangiku had been looking at earlier. A family picture.

"Tch…"

Over her shoulder, Rangiku glanced at her captain questioningly. "Did you say something, Taichou?"

Shaking his head irritably, Toushirou replied, "Nothing."

A family. Toushirou thought with hooded eyes. How lucky they were to have something to protect.

From what the young captain could gather from the video, the younger Kurosaki had begun to undergo hollow transformation. Dilated pupils, and the beginnings of a hollow mask. It seemed that the human named Sachi had been a victim earlier in the day as well, who been hollowfied at Karakura Highschool. They would not find that girl's soul. The possibility that Kurosaki's younger sister had been hollowfied seemed high. Eying Kurosaki Ichigo, Toushirou kept this to himself for now. Some things were better left untold until confirmed.

...

After mere moments of meditating, the shinigami deemed the several straggler hollows vaulting haphazardly back and forth between Karakura and Hueco Mundo too dangerous to leave alone. Opening her eyes, Rangiku asked, "Are these all the infected souls?"

Checking up on the updated news, Ichigo confirmed, "Five people disappeared today." Eyes shadowed, he added, "Six, including Karin."

Rangiku informed him, "The medical squad posted here found two bodies so far."

Rukia assured Ichigo, " Neither body belonged to your sister. And we're not saying this just to comfort you. We found a body belonging to one of the hollowfied souls – "

" – Which was – " Toushirou shot an annoyed glance at Rangiku, " – accidentally cleansed, due to forgetfulness."

Hastily, Rukia continued, "The other body we found was at your old high school, belonging to that girl named Sachi, which Karin took care of. That leaves three souls and their bodies to find, not including your sister."

Vehemently, Ichigo asserted, "She's not going to be found as a body!"

Furrowing her brow, Rukia voiced, "I can only feel three other hollows… wait, two, since one just disappeared into Hueco Mundo. But neither feels like Karin…"

Toushirou alone said nothing, continuing to meditate. Unexpectedly, his ice-blue eyes shot open. _'Found another,'_ The spiritual pressure was very faint, but from experience, he could tell it was from repression rather than weakness. None of the others had noticed that particular spiritual presence. This one was different. Hollows did not normally hide their spiritual presence; they were usually not intelligent or capable enough to do so. That this one could hide its spiritual pressure effectively meant that it was strong. He briefly considered telling Ichigo about this anomaly, before thinking better of it. Kurosaki was too emotionally invested to fulfill this mission properly; he could afford to take no chances. The chance that it was Ichigo's younger sister was two in one. For now, he would have Ichigo take care of the small fry. That was, unless Kurosaki went after the one in Hueco Mundo, which could also be the sister.

Standing up, Toushirou took charge. "Our priority is to capture the infected souls and take them back to Soul Society. We must bring at least one of them back, for examination, at any cost. The Science Department said that two would be better. For comparison." He refrained from making a face. "Let's split up to track down the hollows, and meet back here in 30 minutes."

He shot a glance at Ichigo, who had opened his mouth as if to protest; to suggest what, he had no idea. Before Toushirou could say anything more, Rukia gently told Ichigo, "This may be the quickest route to finding your sister. Those hollows will have information we need. The faster we confirm what's happened to her, the easier it will be to find her."

Ichigo closed his mouth. Toushirou nodded, and all the shinigami set out to track down their respective hollows. Ichigo, distracted as he was, didn't notice Toushirou slip off elsewhere. On the other hand, Rangiku gave her captain an inquisitive look, which Toushirou returned with a warning one. Though Rangiku frowned, she nodded. Whatever her captain had in mind, he never did things without adequate reason.

And so Toushirou headed towards the direction where he felt a spiritual energy, tainted with some hollow-like properties, pulsate faintly.

...

If Karin had thought things couldn't have gotten worse, she was obviously wrong. Sure, half of day of sitting in abject fear of what you were transforming into was tiring. Sure, running from several hollows and some half-baked afro shinigami was annoying. In fact, it was enough to drive any normal person off the normal cranial map of sanity. Karin was fairly sure she was off the charts there. Her thread of consciousness was constantly threatened by an irrational hunger. Half the time, it felt like something was drumming against the insides of her skull, pounding to be let out.

Perhaps what partially helped Karin keep her humanity was the steady downpour of water dripping from the sky. But Karin really hated the rain. _'Why rain, of all things, at this time?'_ she wondered. Rain was always a bad omen.

Huddled at the base of a tree, Karin did the best she could to shelter herself from the onslaught of rain. All attempts seemed futile, however. She was already soaked to the skin. Drops of water trickled uncomfortably down her face and neck, and her uniform clung heavily to her skin with the weight of water, while Karin recalled memories she'd always wanted to forget. The day her world had fallen apart.

As scenes of her brother's pale face and her mother's lifeless, bloody body flashed before her eyes, Karin buried her face in her hands, only to remember that the right side of her face was encased in a hollow mask. Lowering her hands, Karin pulled her knees to her torso, a whimper escaping her mouth. For the second time in two days, Karin laughed humorlessly to herself, "Oh, how we all fall."

"Indeed."

At the voice, Karin leapt to her feet, whipping around to prepare for a counter attack. She hadn't felt anybody approach. Swallowing nervously, Karin tried to ignore her pounding heart as she literally _felt_ her spiritual pressure become more rugged and gather around to widen the surface area of her mask. Her self-control seemed to be at a breaking point as she felt a nauseatingly sharp rise in her appetite. But this time, fear for her life overwhelmed her hunger. A figure began to walk forth from the shadows of the trees, and she prepared to release her spiritual pressure, until the person said, "Don't be so hasty." A silver-haired boy who seemed a bit older than her stepped out into view, his piercing turquoise eyes trained upon her.

...

Toushirou narrowed his eyes, studying the infected soul before him. Judging how she was physically drenched to the bone, she was still in her body, it seemed. The mask was a little over half formed on her face. The other half of her face was obscured by her mess of wet black hair. The chances were half and half. He stepped out from the shade as she raised her spiritual energy in order to attack.

"Stay away from me!" she all but screamed at him. He rolled his eyes. Frail threats seldom worked on anyone, least of all him.

But as soon as he was fully visible to her, the girl stoppered her spiritual energy and instead straightened, seemingly eyeing his hakama and haori. Unexpectedly, she said, "Have you come to kill me?"

So she was still sane.

"As good as." Toushirou replied honestly. What was the point of lying? He was here to tow her back to the Seireitei to be studied. If anything, death would be the easy way out.

At this, she said, "I'm not going to hurt anybody. So just leave me alone." Pushing her wet hair out of her face, the girl looked Toushirou straight in the eye.

At this, Toushirou's eyes widened. He recognized the uncovered part of her face, one he had glimpsed grinning and unmasked, albeit a bit younger, in the photo back at Ichigo's room. He had considered the possibility as a fifty fifty chance, but it seemed luck truly hadn't been on his side that day. Depending on what you defined as luck, anyways. The infected soul was Kurosaki Ichigo's younger sister. And for a moment, he wavered. Perhaps it was because it was a comrade's younger sister; perhaps it was because she was still rational and fighting for her sanity. He had witnessed somebody do the same; only, she had lost.

...

For a bit, Karin wondered if she actually should forfeit her life to the shinigami. He seemed different from the afro-guy; cold and serious, with a spiritual pressure overwhelmingly more powerful. Anyways, even if she did walk away from the encounter alive, would it be worth it? Would she be able to live constantly fighting off the terrible hunger, and the mask… what would happen when the mask had completely formed?

Yet her instinct to live seemed to still flare strongly within her, because as soon as she saw the shinigami hesitate for a moment, she high-tailed it, using some form of movement she had never experienced before. One moment, she was a mere meter away from the shinigami - the next, she was several hundred meters away.

...

If he hadn't been presented with such a dilemma, Toushirou would have been impressed with the technique that the younger Kurosaki had used, which seemed to be some cross between Shunpo and Sonido. He could still feel traces of her spiritual energy.

He could have caught up to her in a heartbeat; she wouldn't have gotten away unless he'd let her.

...

A/N: Phew, finally done. Sorry this update took so long, ^^ This chapter took me a while, for some reason.


	4. The Second Encounter

**Chapter 4: The Second Ecounter**

* * *

A/N: Excuse the lateness. I just went under brain surgery, and have been recovering in rehab. But my hair remains relatively unscathed! Sure, my aunt cut my hair pretty ruthlessly (bob cut) and incision marks remain, but that's alright compared to rehab. ^^;;

Disclaimer: Not mine, Kubo Tite's.

...

**Chapter 4**

The Second Encounter

...

She'd only gotten away because he'd let her. Pondering this, Toushirou stood, confused. Why exactly _had_ he let her go? It had been well within his power to capture the "infected soul" right then and there.

There was no point thinking too much on it. But it was time to meet up with the other shinigami. Casting one last look in the direction Kurosaki Karin's had launched off into, Toushirou leapt into the air, hoping the cool air would distract him from his own thoughts.

As expected, the young captain was the first to reach the rendezvous point. Then one by one, his companions arrived not long after, each with their reports. The reports themselves, however, varied in quality according to each shinigami. Very rarely were brawn and brain ever distributed in remotely proportional quantities.

"The flying type hollow was restrained and sent to Soul Society at 8:42 pm, and according to the medical team, the soul matches with one of the bodies they found while we were searching for the hollows." Rukia reported efficiently. Then she lost some of her professional-like manner as she continued, "And it may not be my place to say, but I feel the families deserve to know..."

Toushirou agreed. "We'll leave the bodies in more noticeable places." Turning towards his lieutenant, he prompted, "So?"

Examining her nails, Rangiku recited as if bored, "I caught the other hollow in Karakura and had the medical squad come pick it up. They found the corresponding body in the area, too."

After a bit of a pause, during which Toushirou turned his expectant gaze to Ichigo, the shinigami in question scratched his head and muttered somewhat sheepishly, "Well, the medical squad couldn't reach me in Hueco Mundo, and I didn't know how to subdue it with kidou spells so I just cleansed it. And I dunno what happened to the body."

Toushirou suppressed a sigh. It was to be expected. So two out of three had successfully managed to subdue the hollows and recover the respective bodies. That left one body to find; Ichigo's sister was still in her physical body. The medical team had gotten the soul samples needed for inspection. But Ichigo's response bothered him some. Maybe he should have Kuchiki Rukia spend some time to teach the strength-based shinigami some kidou spells, to branch out his skills. _'That careless...'_ Toushirou thought irately,_ 'what if it had been his own sister?'_ He realized after a moment, the oddity of being bothered by the status of Ichigo's sister. That was Kurosaki's business, Toushirou thought to himself, not his. "Well, we'll start by leaving the recovered bodies in more noticeable places, in our spirit forms. It won't do to get our gigais arrested."

As they carried the bodies to places where people would notice them, Toushirou thought, with two of the hollowfication victims procured, he no longer needed to drag Kurosaki's sister back to Seireitei, but it was his job to eliminate any potential threats. Wondering why nobody had ever thought of this earlier, Toushirou turned to Rukia. "I think this guy had better learn," he jerked his head toward Ichigo, "some Kidou basics. It's a shame that one of the strongest spiritual entities around doesn't know even the simplest restraining spell."

Ichigo protested, "Hey! I've already tried Kidou spells..."

"Idiot! Then we'll just train harder!" Rukia interrupted him.

The poor man seemed rather henpecked when it came to Rukia. The deceptively small shinigami handled Ichigo rather roughly.

Toushirou himself explained nothing of what he had discovered to the others. Though Toushirou could tell Rangiku was curious, he knew she wouldn't pry. She trusted him that much, at least. As he'd expected, Kurosaki's strength lay with his raw strength, and less with his finesse. Rather unsuited for small missions, Toushirou noted. Hopefully Kuchiki would be able to fix that matter, if only a little. And of course the man would ask about –

"Any traces of Karin? None of the infected souls or bodies belonged to her, right? The hollow I took care of had a different face behind the skull mask - "

If Ichigo were informed about the state Karin was in now, no doubt the hot-headed shinigami would charge off to find her. But what would he do then? The orange haired shinigami's sense of duty would not allow him to let a danger to civilians get away. But he could hardly kill his own sister.

No, it was best to wait for more information. Perhaps the researchers could come up with a cure for the hollowfication infection. He should check it up with Urahara as well. After silently calculating the best choices, Toushirou simply said, "Patience, Kurosaki. The researchers will find something." However, in a corner of his mind, he wondered to himself, _'The best choices for whom?'_ It didn't seem to be Soul Society. But he shoved those thoughts aside and instead brought up the matter of where each of the shinigami would stay. At this, Kuchiki Rukia eagerly turned to Ichigo. "Ichigo! I hope you've kept my closet clean while I was gone."

Rangiku pondered, "I wonder if I should go visit Orihime-chan." But she turned and grinned towards Ichigo and said coyly, "But you'll let me stay over too, right?" All the while, Toushirou kept an eye on Kurosaki Karin's whereabouts.

…

Later that night, after procuring gigai, Toushirou lay awake on the roof of Ichigo's house, where the other two were staying. They'd been welcomed as Ichigo's "university friends." Thankfully, the family made no comment on Toushirou's young age. The family seemed rather preoccupied with Karin's disappearance. The father nearly went berserk when Yuzu offered the explanation, "Maybe it's a boy? I've seen her hang out with Seta-senpai a lot lately..." Of course, Ichigo knew differently.

Toushirou, on the other hand, raised a brow at this. Not only the boy they had extracted the memories from, but this Seta as well? This Kurosaki girl must have been popular. Rolling his eyes, he informed the Ichigo that he would find his own place to stay.

Feeling the roof tiles press against his back, Toushirou thought back to the decisions he'd made that day. For everything he'd done, it seemed as if the priority had primarily been the well-being of Kurosaki and his sister. It surprised him that most of his thoughts had inadvertently geared towards keeping Kurosaki's sister in the human world for as long as possible. It was as if he'd already made up his mind about what to do about her. Fiddling with his cell phone briefly before snapping it shut, Toushirou sat up.

…

The rain had stopped some time ago, thankfully. Karin sat under a tree with her eyes closed, looking for all the world like a normal sleeping teenager, if one ignored her half-formed mask and her location of choice. Or rather, lack of choice. But of course, Karin was awake; who knew what would happen if she succumbed to unconsciousness? In her mind's eye, she recalled the eyes of the shinigami from earlier that day – irises of cold turquoise. An unfamiliar color she had never seen in a person's eyes before, filled with an emotion she was all too familiar with. After all, she too, and even her brother, at some point or another, had looked on at the world with those same types of eyes: the eyes of a lone wolf.

Speaking of which…

Karin opened her eyes. "Go ahead, kill me. I don't even care anymore."

_'Impressive detection,'_ Toushirou thought. He stepped out from behind a tree. But he made no other move. It wouldn't do to scare off the target. Not that it seemed like she would run away, given her previous statement. Running an eye over his modern garb - A collared shirt over a tee, along with jeans - Karin guessed, "A fake body? Gigai, were they called?"

The shinigami noted, "You know a lot for a human."

This made Karin snort, "If your older brother'd been running around exterminating hollows for the past four years, you'd pick up a few things too, if only for your own survival." Not to mention she'd started spying on Ichigo after a while. "Gigai" had been only one of the many words she'd picked up from dialogues between Ichigo and Rukia.

Suddenly, the shinigami shoved something under her nose. Wrinkling her nose, Karin pulled back sharply. "What are you - "

"Eat." The boy interrupted her. He was holding a rice ball out to her. She looked from the shinigami to the rice ball in his hand uncertainly. After a brief stare down, she said as if he was a slight bit crazy, "I'm not hungry for - "

Impatiently, he shoved the rice ball into Karin's hands. "I know this isn't the food you're craving, but it's better than nothing. Your non-hollow half will be sated, at least."

She wasn't in the habit of taking food from someone whose name she didn't even know, but the idea of vanquishing at least one of her appetites was appealing. Hesitantly, Karin unwrapped and took a bite into the rice ball. Though she chewed slowly at first, she began to dig in. She felt enormous relief at how at least a part of her hunger was ebbing away. But it made her all the more aware of the other hunger that gnawed away within her.

At that point, The Boy plopped down opposite of her, leaning back against a nearby tree. Karin stiffened at his proximity, but continued to eat. Awkward silence ensued, broken every now and then by sounds of chewing. Karin first tried to focus on the type of seaweed wrapped around the rice ball, next on the salmon embedded at the center of the rice ball, and then made herself think about which store The Boy could have bought it from. _'Probably some convenience store nearby.'_ But as hard as she tried to overlook it, the intensity of The Boy's turquoise gaze was getting to her. It seemed to slice through all her thoughts and continuously prick at her. Karin shifted uncomfortably under this scrutiny. Her eating slowed. Halfway through the riceball, she'd had enough of trying to ignore him, and shot him a look. "I appreciate the food, but will you stop staring at me?"

He shifted his gaze slightly to the side, but Karin could sense he was still examining her. As if the food wasn't hard enough to stomach already. Even so, she polished off the riceball, licking the individual grains of rice off her fingertips. After the last grain of rice had disappeared, she turned to face her supposed benefactor properly.

"So why aren't you killing me?" As soon as the words left her lips, Karin winced internally. Not the way she had intended her 'thank you' to come out, but a valid question nonetheless. The answer was unexpected.

"Dunno." Unexpected and unhelpful.

She sighed. Were all male shinigami this taciturn? Perhaps it was a job requirement? Granted, her brother had been a man of few words for almost as long as she could remember, long before he had become a shinigami. Closing her eyes, she didn't ask any further. After a while, The Boy elaborated on his previous answer, "Maybe because I know your brother."

His words caught Karin off guard. It took her a moment to realize that the boy was still answering her question about why he was providing her with help.

So the boy knew who she was. Karin voiced her curiosity. "You're one of my brother's comrades, then."

Giving her a cold stare, The Boy – she had long since switched her internal labeling from 'the shinigami' to "The Boy" – replied, "That's none of your business."

Affronted, Karin thought inwardly, _'Of course it's my business, he's my brother!'_ But verbally, she didn't even bother to counter this baffling logic. She was tired enough. The high-strung atmosphere resumed once again. After a stifling few minutes that felt like a few hours, she accidentally broke the tension first with an irrepressible yawn. The Boy spoke again. "Sleep. Your spiritual pressure should be able to hold off the hollowfication process for a while longer."

Eyeing him distrustfully, Karin said, "And get eaten by hollows or wiped off by shinigami? No thanks."

He met her gaze without wavering. "I'll stay here. You'll be fine."

Despite usually despising charity, Karin figured it was smarter to accept The Boy's offer. She'd already accepted food from him anyways. If he'd been planning to kill her, he'd had plenty of chances. Tired as she was, Karin decided that the grand inquisition surely heading The Boy's way could wait another day. She was already thinking of questions that she would ask as she drifted off to sleep. Who was he? Why was he helping her? Did her brother know what had happened? What was happening to her? What was… Her eyes closed as she drifted into sleep.

…

"Urgh..."

Sunlight was pricking her eyes. Karin mumbled, "Yuzu… close the blinds…" Blearily, it struck her that the bed felt oddly lumpy. That would be because… "Oh." She was sleeping on dirt and tree root. Sitting up, Karin heaved a sigh. Of course. She wasn't imaginative enough to have dreamed up such an elaborative nightmare. For some reason, the previous day seemed so surreal. That would explain why she was relatively calm. The paranoia had somewhat left after sleeping.

"I'm parched…." She croaked out. She was hungry too, but thirst was a less dangerous feeling. Especially since the hunger wasn't physical. So she focused on her thirst. "I remember seeing water around somewhere…" Karin looked around. Getting up and dusting her skirt off, which was already messy from the dirt, rain, and consequent mud, Karin headed off in the general direction where she remembered the lake being. Bingo. Catching sight of a willow tree, Karin stumbled over. Sure enough, the wonderful substance called H2O lay beyond the drooping tree. Kneeling at the edge of the lake, she dipped her hands into the water. The first sip effectively woke her. The second and third gulps brought back clear thought, and the fourth finally quenched her thirst. Briefly, Karin spotted her reflection in the stilling water. The mask had formed over all of her forehead and nose, her right cheek, and almost reached her mouth on the right side. The single eye behind the mask glinted eerily. Angrily, Karin punched her liquid reflection. It didn't change anything, but she took what little satisfaction she could from venting.

"I'll feel better once I'm clean." She told herself.

Without further thought, Karin dove into the lake. The shock of the cold water prevented her from thinking unnecessary thoughts. Slowly, she surfaced, weighed down by all her clothes.

Doggy paddling awkwardly over to the shallower part of the lake, Karin stood up, dripping, and stripped off her clothes. She waded and ducked down into the lake again, her body slowly adjusting to the water temperature.

Feeling somewhat cleaner, Karin got out of the lake and was wringing out her uniform, when she felt a familiar presence approach. She swore. In her morning haze, she had completely forgotten about The Boy from the day before. Hastily tossing aside her uniform, Karin quickly dove into the lake again, just in time to hear an irritable voice call out, "Kurosaki!"

Crossing her arms over her chest and submerging herself to her chin, Karin called back, "What do you want?"

The white-haired shinigami dashed out from the trees. Spotting Karin, he scowled.

"Taking a swim, huh? I spent half the morning looking for you."

She had a right to be clean as well. Annoyed, Karin parried, "You said you'd keep watch until I was awake. You're the one who left first." Never mind she hadn't even noticed his absence. Karin knew she was being uncharacteristically childish, but she did not want to lose an argument to this secretive, rude boy whose name she didn't even know.

Without further ado, said rude boy ordered, "Get out."

Karin backed out deeper into the lake at this. She yowled, "Why?"

"You don't plan on swimming the whole day, do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

She could feel her cheeks getting red with anger. "What's it to you?"

"I can't stay here and play bodyguard the whole time, now can I?" He said sarcastically. "So I'm going to teach you survival basics."

Karin's eye twitched. If she got any angrier, she felt the water might boil around her. "I can survive in the wild just fine! I learned how to camp!"

The boy's patience seemed to be wearing thin as well. Tapping his foot, he responded, "Not for the wild. For hollows."

So that's what he meant. Cooling down a bit, Karin told him, "Turn around then."

That caught him off guard. "What?"

Glowering at him, Karin repeated, "Turn. Around. Or do you want a show while I get dressed?"

Upon realization, The Boy turned red. Quickly, he turned around, to allow her to dress herself. Emerging from the water and donning her still-wet clothes, Karin informed him, "You can turn around now."

He turned around rather cautiously. Giving her a once-over, he blinked once, and hastily turned around again.

He threw his jacket over his shoulder. Karin caught it, somewhat bemused. "What's this for?" In a rough voice, he answered, "You might want to cover up a bit."

The line sounded somewhat familiar to Karin.

**Flashback**

_"The heck's this for Capt? I have my own towel in my locker."_

_"Just thought you might want to cover up a bit."_

**End Flashback**

Karin rolled her eyes, but her lips quirked into a hint of a smile.

….

"So I just sit here."

Karin was hard-pressed for patience. Meditation was not her type of thing. The Boy gave her a warning look.

"If you meditate properly, you should be able to hold off the hollowfication process for longer. Not to mention you'll hide your spiritual presence better."

Suppressing a sigh, Karin straightened her posture and closed her eyes. Immediately, she could feel the difference. As if The Boy could tell what she was feeling, he said, "That's right. It makes a difference. So keep meditating until I come back."

Cracking an eye open, Karin asked, "When will you be back?"

The Boy replied, "Nightfall."

She would be bored for a while. Crinkling her face up, Karin tossed back, "And bring back some food while you're at it."

"Whatever."

...

The busty lieutenant greeted her captain by cracking open a window. Unable to withhold her curiosity, she asked Toushirou, "So where were you the whole night?"

Toushirou shrugged. He could hardly own to having kept watch over Ichigo's sister the whole night. He had briefly left to dispatch a report to Soul Society, and Karin had disappeared for a swim at that time.

Hastily, he switched subjects to take Rangiku's mind off the subject at hand. "So... what happened while I was gone?" As soon as the phrase left his lips, he knew he had made a mistake; it was uncharacteristic of him to ask. Luckily for Toushirou, Rangiku missed the mark completely and guessed, "Taichou, have you got yourself a girlfriend? I guess you're at that age..."

Face flushing, Toushirou vehemently insisted, "It's not like that!"

Rangiku covered a giggle with a hand, and said, "But there IS a girl?"

Toushirou fought the urge to slap his forehead. He asked in a last ditch attempt to distract Rangiku, "Have the bodies been found by humans?"

Growing serious, Rangiku nodded. "It was all over the news. One of the bodies was mauled, right? They're blaming it on some beast, but they can't determine what species. And they have no clue about the cause of death for the other corpses."

Grimly, Toushirou replied, "They would have no idea."

...

Karin was struggling with meditating. The metaphorical clock was ticking oh so slowly and her patience (and ability to concentrate) was running low. With a sigh, she opened her eyes. She had predicted it, but this was beyond boring. Hiding her spiritual pressure was like second nature to Karin now that she had run around being chased by hollows and shinigami, and meditating had been the final straw. "Let's just rest."

She curled up and fell asleep.

That was how Toushirou found Karin that evening. He stared down at the sleeping girl whose face was half covered with a mask_._

"Oi."

When she didn't respond, he spoke a little louder. "Oi."

When Karin's only answer was to roll over, Toushirou grit his teeth and bent over, his face close to her ear and shouted, "OI!"

Startled, Karin woke up. "Whu? Where's the fire?" she asked stupidly. She had dreamt a normal dream at first where she was playing a soccer game. Then it turned into a nightmare where she transformed into a hollow and a certain white-haired shinigami had come to exterminate her, but she was back to normal before she knew it, the way you sometimes do in dreams, then suddenly The Boy was a firefighter and her house was on fire.

But now Karin was awake, saw the irate captain, and noticed she was still in the forest. She promptly forgot about the scary dream and said, "Oh, it's just you. What do you want?"

A vein popped out on The Boy's forehead and he all but yelled, "'What do you want?' I spend all that time waiting in line at the convenience store and that's all you can say? 'What do you want?' I want some appreciation!"

At this, Karin perked up. "You brought food?"

Toushirou reconsidered giving her the rice balls and crackers but thought better of it and sulkily nodded. He tossed the whole plastic bag to Karin and she nimbly caught it. Then she dug into it rather enthusiastically. Mouth full, she said, "I couldn't meditate for the whole day. I got tired and fell asleep."

Cocking an eyebrow, Toushirou said acidly, "I noticed." He sat down cross-legged in front of Karin intending to ask her about her brother, but she beat him to it. Forcing a casual tone, she asked, "You didn't tell Ichi-nii about me, did you?" and upon seeing The Boy shake his head, she heaved a private sigh of relief. But this relief didn't last long, because The Boy cut it short.

"You can't run from him forever."

Avoiding his turquoise gaze, Karin abruptly changed the subject.

"What's the point of meditating again?"

...


	5. Shaken Up

**Chapter 5: Shaken Up**

* * *

A.N: I hope the writing quality hasn't decreased too much after the surgery…

Disclaimer: Not mine, Kubo Tite's.

...

**Chapter 5**

Shaken Up

...

Hitsugaya Toushirou was gathering information. Due to his status as captain, he had access to the Seireitei's past records from his cell phone. According to these records, there had already been a vanishing souls case around a century back, which had led to the hollowfication of souls that were shinigami lieutenant level and higher.

But this infection of souls was… different. It affected wandering souls who had already died, even if they had no spiritual power. The souls did not vanish, but all turned into lower class hollows. The source of infection was by needle, which had the ability to eject and hollowfy the soul of any human it was shot into. Human doctors couldn't trace it because they didn't know what to look for, but Seireitei examiners had declared before they went back, that the abandoned bodies of the hollowfied spirits also carried traces of what was supposed to be a purely spiritual infection. Because the strain of the current infection was different from the one from a century ago, there was no guarantee that Karin could turn into a vaizard in the case that her mask fully formed. More likely an extremely powerful hollow.

In the meantime, the cases of infected souls steadily increased. More and more people were reported missing, and more and more bodies were discovered without any apparent cause of death, or mauled by some sort of beast. When Sachi's body turned up, it was all over the news, and the Karakura high went into mourning.

These days, Kurosaki Isshin remained in a perpetually grim mood. He even acted abnormally; burying himself in newspapers, immersing himself into TV, and reading magazines whenever he had spare time.

During the day, the shinigami were out and about cleansing hollows and reporting the cases of hollowfications, not to mention leaving the bodies where humans could find them. On one particular excursion Rukia asked, "Hitsugaya-Taichou, shouldn't we call for backup?"

Rangiku put her two cents in. "At this rate, we can't keep up."

Ichigo frowned, worried. "We should seriously consider calling for reinforcements. We really need to capture the culprit, don't we?"

"Let's wait a little longer." To everyone's surprise, Toushirou advised.

Privately, Toushirou had considered getting back up as well.

But the problem was Karin.

Toushirou had a hidden motive for holding off on calling for reinforcements; it would be problematic if someone with keen spiritual detecting powers – which was all too possible considering the mission of capturing the culprit – was sent and discovered Kurosaki Karin. He had gone through all the trouble of teaching her how to meditate, Toushirou told himself, it would be a shame if he let it go all to waste.

...

Later, said young captain and the hollowfying girl were meditating. Or trying to. Karin had gotten better at meditation, but she was still not used to sitting and concentrating all day and all night. She gave up for the umpteenth time that day and groaned, stretching and leaning back against a tree. "I'm bored." she groused. She did not dare ask Toushirou for news of anything or anyone, because he looked so grim all the time.

Rolling his eyes, Toushirou shot back, "Tell me about it. I'm stuck babysitting when I could be living a peaceful life back in Seireitei." Well, not really peaceful, but relatively so, considering all the stress he was going through to keep Karin's whereabouts a secret.

Karin wrinkled her nose at him. "I think there was insult in there, but I'm choosing to ignore it."

The two had developed a kind of mutual tolerance after a while, a vast improvement from their first encounter: one frightened and the other out to exterminate. But there were still times when they rubbed each other the wrong way. Such as this time.

After a moment of dull silence, Karin said out of the blue, "Tell me a story."

At this, Toushirou looked at Karin incredulously. He almost said, _'A story! I don't know if you've noticed yet, but you're undergoing hollowfication!'_ but upon seeing her expectant eyes, the words stopped right in his throat. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'm not good with stories," trying to make an excuse, at the same time looking around for an escape.

But Karin cut in, "I don't really care whether it's good or not."

Helplessly, Toushirou wracked his brain for some remotely interesting story. When none came to mind, his mind cast back to one Momo had told him back when they were children, before the shinigami academy, before the Winter War, before she'd...

He hesitated before asking, "Do you believe in God?"

Karin thought about it. "Well, seeing as how shinigami exist, I suppose… he doesn't exist?"

For the first time, The Boy laughed. "Well, it's a contended idea even in Soul Society. For this story, let's assume God does exist."

Nodding, Karin noted that The Boy's face, usually lacking emotion, looked almost… wistful?

After taking a deep breath, The Boy started the story. "There was a man who had lost his first love to a rival. But eventually, he moved on and married another woman, and raised a family. However, he continued to observe his rival from afar. The rival looked like he was doing well. When the man eventually died, he asked God, _'_Why did you allow my rival to do so well with life when he stole my first love from me?_'"_

The Boy paused, and the wind shuffled through his silver hair. Turning to Karin, The Boy continued on. "God said, _'You think so?'_ Then God showed to him a big tree with innumerable pieces of paper hanging from it. God motioned to them, saying, _'These pieces of paper have the stories of individuals written on them. Read them and choose one, and I will send you back to earth to live that very life.'_ God motioned to one paper, _'This was your rival's life.'"_

The Boy sighed, "The man, of course, read the paper. When he finished reading, the man had tears in his eyes. He said, 'I didn't know his life was so painful…' God asked him, _'Will you reconsider?'_ The man answered, '…I don't want to live his life.'"

Karin blinked. When she had asked for a story she had meant a funny one, not a serious one, though with The Boy's personality she should have expected the latter. Wistfulness vanishing from his face, The Boy looked away from Karin and said brusquely, "The moral is to not judge people on what you see. You may think you're the only one with troubles, but you're not. People all have hidden troubles."

After telling the story, Toushirou sat back, rather subdued. It reminded him of _her_ and she still made his heart ache. He closed his eyes. _'Momo...'_

Karin lay down on the grass of the forest, thinking about the story she had just heard, looking up at the navy blue evening sky tinged with the blush of the setting sun, partially obscured by tree branches. Did this mean The Boy also had hidden troubles? It certainly suggested it.

…

By the third day, though they didn't voice it, Yuzu and Isshin seemed terrified that Karin she would turn up as an unmarked corpse like Sachi. For the sake of the rest of his family, Ichigo pretended to receive a phone call from the mysteriously disappeared Karin, using soccer camp as a made up excuse.

"Karin? Is that you? Where have you been these last two days, we were so worried about you!" Ichigo said in an overly staged voice that caused Rukia to hide her face from withheld laughter. He shot her a warning look that conveyed, _'Shut up, this is the best I can do!'_

Then he continued in the same loud voice, "What? You're at a soccer camp? Alright then, I'll tell them. Bye!" He shot a dirty look at Rukia who was still straining to hold in her laughter.

"Overhearing" Ichigo's side of the conversation from her place at the sink, Yuzu looked very relieved when Ichigo and Rukia walked into the kitchen. Reverting a little back to her normal self, she cocked her head curiously and stated, "Strange… She never mentioned a soccer camp. Plus she didn't take a change of clothes, and from what I know, the rest of the soccer team members are still at school –" Sighing, Yuzu said, "Well, I guess it's just a relief that she isn't another victim from the serial disappearances and mysterious deaths."

"But when she comes back, she going to have to explain herself!" Yuzu continued angrily. "Really, making us all worry like that!" Gripping the spatula tightly, she mixed the batter vehemently.

Nervously, Ichigo interrupted, "I'm sure there's a good reason."

Wrinkling her nose disapprovingly, Yuzu said, "Onii-chan, you're so cold... aren't you even worried? Karin-chan's never done this before. Disappearing for two days and calling suddenly from a soccer camp…"

Though Yuzu was skeptical of the soccer camp excuse "Karin" had used, nevertheless, that was what she told the classmates who asked where Karin was (she didn't suspect that it was not "Karin" who had really called).

Later that day, Yuzu saw the soccer team captain walking down the hallway. Hiko wore a black armband, as did many other students in the school, to mourn for Sachi. She went up to him and asked what had happened on the day that the girl's locker room had collapsed. When asked the question, Hiko's reply was convoluted. "I was standing and talking to a teammate about how Sachi had suddenly disappeared..." He trailed off and swallowed the lump that rose in his throat when he thought of how one of his friends had died, but when Yuzu gave him an encouraging look, he continued wanly "when a bulldozer accidentally hit the girls locker room. I saw Kurosaki running out of there so I chased after her, but on the way, there was a burglary I just couldn't ignore," here Hiko scratched his head as if embarrassed, "so I was sidetracked by chasing down the culprit, but it seems I was knocked out instead."

"So that's why you were at our clinic…." Yuzu said thoughtfully.

"Say, Yuzu, you know where your twin is?" He realized it sounded like he was overly worried, and hastily added, "Not that I'm worried, but our team needs her for this year's nationals and she hasn't been showing up to practice lately -"

Yuzu murmured, "She called Onii-chan, saying that she was at a soccer camp…"

Hiko looked confused. "But I haven't heard anything about a soccer camp, and I'm a captain..."

Looking around to see to make sure nobody was listening, Yuzu leaned close to Hiko she whispered in his ear, "Personally, I think she's out with a guy."

"What!" Hiko exclaimed in a loud voice before Yuzu quickly shushed him, as they had attracted quite a few glances from fellow students. Lowering his voice, he whispered, "That tomboy Kurosaki?"

"How rude! This is my twin you're talking about!" protested Yuzu.

He put up his hands in defense, "No, no, not that she's incapable of getting a guy, it's just so unbelievable…." But his words were tinged with what felt suspiciously like jealousy. Unaware of this, Yuzu continued, "I'm just worried about who the boy is." Looking earnestly up at Hiko, she said, "If he's a bad guy, Karin isn't safe..."

Hiko clenched his fists at the thought. He would have to investigate this.

…

On the fifth day after she had met The Boy, Karin knew almost everything there that was known clearly about her condition: she was turning into a hollow, and the way things looked now, with her case of still being in her body and all, there was little to no hope of turning back into a whole, normal human. The moment her mask completed, her body would reject her soul, and she would turn into a mindless hollow.

But she refused to give up hope. Stubbornness ran in the Kurosaki blood. During the day, she kept on meditating, since The Boy had told her that meditating might slow down the hollowfication process. During the evening she caught up on all three meals, compressed into one. Karin grew thinner, something she noticed when she bathed.

She looked at her reflection in the water disgustedly. Experimentally flexing her bicep, then her quadriceps, and she found them less voluminous than before.

"Urgh... I'm losing all my muscle..." Unduly annoyed at her hard-earned muscles' rapid disappearance, Karin began to exercise as much as her body allowed her in between her meditation sessions, and saved some of her riceballs for breakfast.

Karin wondered why she even bothered "bathing" anymore. Every "bath" she took, she steadily smelled more and more like a wet dog. Not wanting to become a tree killer, she didn't ask The Boy to buy her soap, as the suds harmed the environment; in return, she didn't get any closer to being clean. Instead, she briefly considered asking The Boy to get her some fresh clothes, since he knew her brother, but thought better of it. Anyways, she didn't quite dare ask such an audacious request; she also didn't want a boy rummaging through her underclothes. And, grimy as she was, it was improbable that a change of clothes would make her feel cleaner. Besides, Ichi-nii would probably get suspicious, not to mention that Yuzu always did the laundry without fail, and took inventory of the clothes while she was at it.

...

The cases of infected souls continued. The shinigami had their work cut out chasing after the culprit; the culprit hid his spiritual presence and escaped quickly. And there was no way to predict the culprit's next move. They had taken to staking out sites where ghosts hung around, but the ghosts had already all been hollowfied and consequently cleansed.

Ichigo still hadn't given up on finding Karin. Unaware that Toushirou had already found her, he was set on practicing kidou spells in order to improve his spiritual detection skills. Other times his depression left him severely handicapped. The only time he returned to his normal self was when Rukia bullied him, which she happily did whenever he trained.

The orange-haired shinigami shouted, "Hadou 33, Soukatsui!" only to have the spell explode back into his own face.

"That's not the way you should do it! And I told you to use the incantation because you're a newbie to kidou spells!" Rukia yelled, pulling Ichigo's ear close to her mouth to better get her point across.

Ripping his ear out from her grip, Ichigo winced from the resulting pain and held his red ear as he retorted, "Then _you_ show me!"

Toushirou observed Ichigo while he trained, his greenish-blue eyes following the taller shinigami. Many times, he had considered telling him about his younger sister. But Toushirou had Soul Society's well-being in mind as well. Kidou training would do Ichigo some good.

Meanwhile, Rangiku teased Toushirou mercilessly about his "girlfriend." When Toushirou happened to heave a sigh for some reason, she snickered, "Girl giving you trouble?" and giggled when he stiffened and glared at her. "It's okay, don't be embarrassed. It's natural at your age."

Another time, when she was flicking idly through a magazine, Rangiku asked casually, "How's it going with the girl?"

Grinding his teeth, Toushirou told himself to ignore her questions. He clammed up or changed the topic whenever the subject came up, afraid of what Rangiku might glean from his vague answers. In this case, he switched topics, standing up and saying, "I'm going to make a report to Soul Society, requesting extra time for finding the infected souls. And while I'm at it, I'll ask for an update on the information found on the infected souls that we caught."

Rangiku called after him, "Is this an excuse too spend extra time with the girl?"

…

While meditating when The Boy was gone, Karin had focused enough to block out the ambient sounds of the forest. She had submerged into the darkness of her consciousness. Suddenly, she was jolted out of this state by a sharp cracking sound. She saw - no, felt - the little over half-formed mask shatter and fall off her face. Looking down at the white shards of the mask laying on the ground before they disintegrated, she registered what this meant. For the first time in days, Karin tentatively touched the right side of her face. It was smooth flesh.

Excited, she ran to the lake to look at her reflection. She saw for a precious brief moment, her normal face, but her joy was cut short when she saw the mask reforming before her very eyes. She watched in disbelief. Soon enough, it was covering over half her face again. Karin wanted to collapse in despair, but that was uncharacteristic for her, so she firmed up her knees. But that the mask had briefly shattered in itself gave Karin hope that hollowfication was reversible. She returned to meditating with fresh determination.

When The Boy returned that evening (with more food) she chomped away at the rice ball at a higher speed than usual. The Boy seemed to notice the difference in speed of consumption from previous days and raised a brow. "Why the hurry?"

Karin choked on a mouthful of rice while trying to explain. The Boy hurriedly handed her a bottle of water so she could wash down the rice grains. Swallowing and coughing, Karin gratefully accepted the water bottle. The Boy watched her gulping the water and shook his head. "Serves you right for trying to talk with your mouth full."

This statement earned him a very dirty look. Once Karin had cleared her throat, she resumed explaining, "While I was meditating today, briefly, my mask came off." She paused to gauge his reaction. If The Boy was shocked, he didn't show it. "Well, since the mask has obviously reformed, I wanted to try meditating once again, to see if I can hold it off for longer." Karin finished.

Inside, Toushirou was wondering if this had really could happen. Had she imagined it from wishful thinking? Assuming it _had_ happened, Toushirou pondered, _'Does this mean that hollowfication in process is curable? Is it her strong spiritual pressure? Or if the others had been taught meditation, would they react in the same way?'_

With this in mind, without a word, they returned to meditating.

…

Over the next several days, Karin managed to crack the mask many times, with the same result; the mask reformed each time. But every time it seemed that she was diving deeper into her consciousness. She didn't tell The Boy about this however; he seemed to have a lot on his mind.

And truth be told, Toushirou _did_ happen to have a lot on his mind. Between Karin claiming to have broken the mask several times (none of which he had been present for) and Ichigo's worries nagging on his mind, two-thirds of the Kurosaki siblings kept his mind occupied.

While they were supposedly meditating, Karin sneaked a look at The Boy. Why was it when he was here, she couldn't crack the mask? She had no qualms when he came carrying food as a peace offering (at least that was what she thought of it anyways), but the other times he came it was just so _awkward_, she couldn't concentrate on meditating. It was like she couldn't focus when there were other people present. She shrugged, making a mental note to tell The Boy not to stay as long for a while.

…

Meanwhile, at school, Hiko had taken to interrogating the members of the soccer team. When he asked them what they thought about Karin, they all looked confused and shrugged, answers ranging from "I treat her like a sister" to "Well, she's basically a guy." None of the answers gave any hint that they considered Karin as anything beyond a friend with the shared interest of soccer. But he suspected them all anyways, especially Seta.

"C'mon, spit it out. You and Kurosaki were going out, weren't you?"

Taken aback by this blunt accusation, Seta missed Hiko's pass that they were doing for the drill. Not that Seta was going to deny having feelings for the girl, (which actually were more friendly than romantic) but why was Hiko asking? Had he realized his own feelings?

"Why are you asking?" Seta cautiously asked while retrieving the soccer ball and passing it back to Hiko. At this query, Hiko looked like he was at a loss for words. Why was he worried about Kurosaki meeting up with another guy? What did he care? And if Karin's guy really was Seta, he was a good guy, so there was no need to worry, was there? As Hiko passed the ball back to Seta absently, he pondered why it bothered him so much, before his thoughts were interrupted when the coach called the members to gather.

As usual, Coach Sasaki looked around for Kurosaki Karin. "Is Kurosaki sick? She's missed several practices now... Well, she'd better get better soon, the district tournament is coming up."

The members murmured amongst themselves. One team member raised his hand and spoke, "Um, I heard she called from a soccer camp... Are there any soccer camps in progress?"

The coach looked confused. "No... not in this district, anyways. So she's AWOL?" His brow furrowed. After a moment of thought, he clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Well, let's discuss this later. Scrimmage time!"

(in case you don't know, AWOL is an acronym for 'absent without leave': it originates from the military, now used with crucial jobs as well)

…

At that point, soccer and school was the furthest thing from Karin's mind. All she could think of was getting the mask off. She concentrated hard, and sure enough, she fell into the same state as when she had broken the mask before. But this time, she heard a voice echoing through her head. The voice was unearthly, sounding like several voices with different pitches speaking at once, overlapping; cacophonous.

_**'You're doing a good job of resisting me.' **_It echoed from all around the darkness that was starting to take shape. Karin floated through this warping darkness.

_'Who are you?'_ she shouted mentally.

The voice chuckled, sounding more like a demon than not, and ignored her question. _**'Let's see how long you can last.'**_

With a gasp, Karin opened her eyes, doubling over, breathing raggedly. Putting a hand to her face, she discovered that her mask hadn't cracked this time.

"Kurosaki! What's wrong?" asked a familiar husky voice. Trembling, Karin looked up. It was The Boy, laden with food per usual. Upon seeing The Boy, Karin hurtled towards him, sending grocery bags flying everywhere, burying her face into his chest. The Boy seemed taken aback by the sudden embrace. Placing a hand on her arm, he asked again, "What happened?"

Tightening her arms around The Boy, Karin whispered, "There was a voice in my head..." ashe stopped when she realized her description sounded kind of like schizophrenia. It was uncharacteristic of her to rely on others, so placing her hands on The Boy's chest, Karin pushed herself away from him. She met his gaze squarely and said in a steadier voice, "I was meditating, and I heard a voice, that said that I was doing a good job of resisting it." She became agitated when she recalled the voice; Toushirou noticed more of her mask had formed, and was forming now before his eyes. Weakening, she pleaded, "Will that hollow take over once the mask forms completely?"

Toushirou had no words to give her. He took her wrist and pulled her close in an embrace.

Karin closed her eyes, relaxing in The Boy's arms despite herself.

...

Looking at the figure fast asleep from exhaustion beside him, Toushirou heaved a sigh, thinking, _'What to do with her…'_

...

A.N: This chapter's kind of shorter than the other ones.


	6. Names

**Chapter 6: Names**

* * *

A.N: Yay for regular updating!

Disclaimer: Not mine, Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 6**

Names

…

The next morning, Karin was quieter than usual. Toushirou noticed this but didn't ask, not out of consideration (on which he considered to have been given the shorter end of the stick), but because he knew what was wrong. She was afraid to meditate. The mask's surface area had increased, too, from her distress yesterday. Moreover, the initial distance between the two had returned, wider than ever. Karin didn't so much as look up when Toushirou stood up. With all these snowballing to make the atmosphere very heavy, he left the forest without a word.

When Toushirou arrived back at the Kurosaki residence, there was someone waiting at the front door. It was lucky that Toushirou used the rooftops to travel, because he would have been spotted by that boy otherwise. He looked familiar, and Toushirou realized that it was the boy that they had extracted the memories about Karin from. Anyways, they had replaced the boy's memories of the day they had extracted his memories, so Toushirou didn't have any reason to worry. Uninterested, he lay back on the roof.

…

Yuzu was setting out breakfast on the table, when she heard the doorbell of the Kurosaki Clinic ring.

She wondered, "Who could it be in the morning?" After hastily finishing setting out the plates, she called in a louder voice, "Coming!"

Wiping her hands on her apron, Yuzu padded over to the door and opened it to reveal Hiko standing there. "Hiko-senpai!" she exclaimed.

"I came to talk about Kurosaki." he said simply.

Nodding in understanding, Yuzu untied her apron, calling down the hallway, "Daddy, Onii-chan, Rukia-chan, Rangiku-san! I've made breakfast so I'm going off to school first!"

Listening to the list of names she had called, Hiko asked curiously, "Do you have guests over?" To his knowledge, at the last soccer match, Karin's family had only consisted of Ichigo-senpai, Yuzu, Karin herself, and their father.

Picking up her bag, Yuzu nodded and explained, "Rukia-chan is Onii-chan's friend from high school, and Rangiku-san is Onii-chan's friend from University, come over for spring break. Though it's strange that Toushirou-kun didn't stay, when the rest of them have stayed for over a week."

"Toushirou-kun?" Hiko inquired while Yuzu carefully shut the door behind her. "Who's that?"

Starting to walk towards Karakura high, Yuzu replied, "He didn't hang around for long, but he was a white haired boy who looked around… your age. Younger maybe?"

"Ehh? White hair? Does that mean he's a delinquent?" exclaimed Hiko.

Yuzu shrugged, "He's allowed to do what he likes, because he's already in University. It looks natural on him though..."

Suddenly a thought occurred to Hiko. "When did they arrive?"

Looking up to count the days, Yuzu remembered, "Oh! They arrived on the same day that Karin-chan disappeared."

Suspecting that they had something to do with Karin's leaving for "soccer camp," Hiko looked back at the Kurosaki Clinic, resolving to come back.

…

From the roof, Toushirou's ears pricked up at the mention of his name. He sat up, and saw Kurosaki's twin sister and the boy whom they had extracted memories from walking together, heading off for what he assumed was school. Hiko's question whether he was a delinquent irked him a bit, but it wasn't worth his time. The spiritual feeling behind him on the other hand…

"I can feel you there, Matsumoto." he called over his shoulder.

Clamoring over the roof tiles over to her captain, Rangiku squinted at the pair walking slowly. Her voice betrayed her amusement as she asked Toushirou, "That boy just called you a delinquent, Taichou. Are you just going to let him go like that?"

"Let him be." Toushirou replied shortly. He turned to look at Rangiku, who was now sitting beside him on the roof staring at him seriously. Noticing this, Toushirou asked, "That aside, why'd you come up here? Aren't you supposed to be eating breakfast right now?" Giving Rangiku a half-glance he stated, "You have something to say, right." Though it was a phrased as a question, it wasn't. It was a statement.

Rangiku hesitated, before asking, "Taichou… why are you hiding Ichigo's younger sister from him?"

Toushirou almost slipped off the roof; whatever he had expected, it hadn't been that. He stared at Rangiku, his blue-green eyes wide. Had she known all along?

"I was just fishing, but from your reaction, it seems that I guessed right." As if she had read Toushirou's mind, Rangiku explained, "I thought it was strange that you always left at night."

Reluctantly, Toushirou asked, "How much do you know?"

"Enough to know that Karin is hollowfying, albeit a bit slowly."

Toushirou sighed. "You found out about the hollowfication too, huh?

Rangiku pointed out, "You come back from those nightly excursions smelling faintly of hollow. And you refused to call for reinforcement, even if meant pushing yourself."

Toushirou snorted. "Hmph. Just from that? What else? You didn't follow me, I know that."

"No, your spiritual detection skills are too sharp for that." Rangiku affirmed. "The thing that tipped me off was the way you took my jokes too seriously. Usually, you'd just say 'che, who has time for those things?' or 'what are you talking about Matsumoto?' I've known you longer than anyone else, excluding – " she caught herself just in time. " – your grandmother. If I put two and two together, it made sense."

Toushirou ruffled his hair; he should have known that Rangiku would notice his behavior was off. His thoughts were cut off as their cellphones started to beep simultaneously, indicating the presence of another product of hollowfication.

Below, Ichigo and Rukia likewise heard their cellphones go off. Glancing at each other, they nodded, and Ichigo grabbed his shinigami representative badge while Rukia popped a soul candy into her mouth. In their respective pairs, they took off from the Kurosaki residence.

It was a small fry hollow again but the hollow wasn't the primary target. While Ichigo (aka the one with the weakest spiritual detection skills) took care of it, the other three shinigami sought the culprit behind the second series of hollowfication cases.

The two top officials of the 10th Division nodded at each other and split up. Rukia, Rangiku and Toushirou each cornered the culprit from different directions. But they found nothing of the culprit, save for a faint trace of reiatsu. They had lost him again. The three looked at each other with grim faces, before going off to search for the body corresponding to the hollow that Ichigo had slain.

…

It was almost midday before Karin summoned enough courage to meditate again. What if she encountered the hollow voice again? But this time, that was the point. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and sank back into the darkness. The darkness immediately began to warp around her. Karin prepared herself.

_'I'm back!' _She shouted out into the darkness.

Soon enough, the voice echoed eerily around Karin.

'_**So you are.'**_

A figure with a half-formed hollow mask stepped out from the darkness. Looking on, Karin realized it was a mirror image of her self, but with inverted eyes and a hole in her chest. The mask was continuing to form on her mirror image's face as well. Panicking, Karin glanced down at her chest, checking for a hole.

As if reading her mind, the hollow laughed, saying, _**'Don't worry, even your mask is gone in this world. And it's my job to punch the hole in your chest.'**_ The voice no longer echoed from all around, but sounded directly from the figure itself, which was steadily stalking closer towards Karin.

Squaring her shoulders, Karin confronted her counterpart. _'So you're the hollow that's trying to take me over.'_

_**'Oh yes. You're a genius, you are.'**_Karin cringed. It seemed her hollow counterpart was just as sardonic as Karin herself.

_**'I've come to settle things.'**_ The hollow stepped forward, her mask continuing to assemble. _**'Don't worry. I'll treat your body…'**_ the rapidly hollowfying figure lunged, _**'just fine!'**_

Luckily, Karin was experienced in hand-to-hand combat. She parried the attack the attack with one hand, and countered with the other hand. The blow landed, and Karin kneed her counterpart hollow form in the stomach. She punched and roundhouse kicked the hollow in quick succession. Twisting her opponent's arm behind her Karin put the hollow in a headlock._ 'Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to take over my body?' _Karin demanded.

But to Karin's surprise, the hollow remained unruffled and unaffected, and did not answer the question.

Instead, she said, '_**What, you think you've got the upper hand?'**_ The hollow-Karin smirked, maneuvered out of the headlock and suddenly lunged again, this time grabbing Karin's neck, raising her up by her neck and strangling her. '_**Didn't you know? You've got to use the spirit particles to reinforce your skin."**_

Grinning nastily, the hollow demonstrated her point by gouging her fingers into Karin's neck, blood spurting on her fingers. Karin choked out, _'L-let go...'_

Laughing maniacally at Karin's strangled cry, the hollow simply dug her fingers in deeper, taking pleasure in Karin's pain. Emitting a strangled yell, Karin's foot shot out to kick the hollow, automatically packed with spiritual energy. The kick caught the hollow underneath the jaw, taking her by surprise and dealing a powerful impact to the skull, rendering her unable to move for a couple of moments.

Once the hollow had let go of her neck, flipping backwards, Karin landed on one knee, coughing blood. Wiping the blood off her mouth with the back of her hand, Karin saw her hollow-self struggling to get up. _'No you don't!'_ Not giving a chance for her hollow-self to recover, Karin launched herself towards the hollow. She wrestled with her hollow, and now that she knew how ruthless her hollow self was, Karin used all her strength to fight. This was no hair-pulling, scratching cat fight like between other girls. This was a battle for existence. Grappling with her inner hollow, Karin ended up on top with her hands around the neck of the hollow. Their roles were now reversed.

Panting, Karin growled, _'You are_ not _taking over my body… Not if I can help it.' _Heat surged into her hands, strengthening Karin. Tightening her hold on the hollow's neck, she commanded, _'Now, get lost!_'

The hollow ground her teeth and choked out, _**'Fine, I'll back off…'**_ there was a hint of a grin on the exposed quarter of her face, _**'for now.'**_ The sinister smile was still on the hollow's mouth as she faded and Karin's hands closed on air.

…

With an enormous effort, Karin opened her eyes. Her neck ached, and the wound from when the hollow had tried to rip out her throat was bleeding sluggishly; her body had sustained physical damage from the mental fight. She checked her chest for signs of a hole. There were none. Karin staggered to her feet, her mask crumbling off her face. This time, she didn't rush towards the lake to make sure her face was normal. Inside, she knew for sure this time that she had defeated the hollow. And she was too woozy to run.

Instead, she wandered around the forest, searching for a way out. Her movements aggravated the wounds on her neck; it began to bleed more than before. When Karin finally stumbled out of the forest, she collapsed out of blood loss and exhaustion. She faintly registered the sound of approaching footsteps before she blacked out.

…

Urahara Kisuke was a busy man. An ordinary day consisted of loafing around, ordering people what to do (mostly just Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta), sitting in the candy shop, and the rest of the time plotting and inventing things.

But that particular day was by no means an ordinary day.

In fact, the whole past week was out of the ordinary. There were cases of people going missing, which Urahara knew for a fact was hollowfication. Not only had Kuchiki Rukia sent him word, but he had felt strange spiritual pressures from all over Karakura. Anybody with a grudge against shinigami or a tendency towards twisted experiments (besides Kurotsuchi) could be behind this, but chances were high that Aizen was back.

And that day, he'd felt a particularly strange spiritual pressure emitting from the forest nearby. So Urahara conveniently took a little stroll towards the forest in question... to see a teenaged girl lying on the ground. Well, collapsed was more like it. The black mop of hair was familiar. He turned her over onto her back, and was met with a face strikingly similar to Kurosaki Ichigo's.

Tilting his hat down, Urahara crouched to examine her. "My my… If it isn't Ichigo-san's younger sister…"

He had seen her playing around with the children in his care, Ururu and Jinta. He examined Kurosaki Karin, and saw finger marks around her neck. Anybody else would just think that she had been physically strangled, but not only was she bruised, she was bleeding profusely from where the fingertips had gouged in. And Urahara knew better. He knew for instance, from the current situation going on in Karakura town, that she had been going through hollowfication. And from the look of her mask-free face, she had defeated the inner-hollow. Previously the owner of spiritual power of about the same caliber as Ururu's, now Kurosaki Karin was much stronger. The gears in Urahara's head started grinding against each other and turning. Karin was young… but no younger than Ichigo when he had charged off to Soul Society to rescue Rukia. She could be just the trump card they needed.

…

After reporting to Soul Society about the failure to capture the culprit, Toushirou seriously considered calling for backup. Including today, that had made eight failures. He had waited for too long, after all. Just as he was about dial the number for reinforcements, he detected his lieutenant's presence behind him. He didn't turn around. "What, Matsumoto?"

"Are you going to visit her today too?" Rangiku voice sounded as teasing as ever.

Toushirou replied tersely, "I am."

Growing serious, Rangiku told him, "Even if you don't take Ichigo to see her, you should tell him what happened, Taichou."

Turning his head and giving her a glare, Toushirou said, "Tell Kurosaki about this and I'll personally chain you to a desk and pile paperwork on you." But Rangiku saw through the empty threat. She understood it as, 'I'll tell him later myself, I promise.' With that, Toushirou headed for the convenience store to buy some food.

As usual, he was picking out rice balls and rice crackers, when he bumped into a taller boy. It was Hiko, who apologized with a, "Sorry, didn't see you there." which was as good as calling Toushirou a midget. Which, after decades of being called so behind his back by his subordinates, Toushirou resented, even though he had grown quite a bit since then.

However, Hiko didn't have any ill intentions. But as he was apologizing, he noticed Toushirou's white hair. So Hiko asked, "Are you, by any chance, Toushirou-kun?"

_'It's Hitsugaya Taichou...'_ he thought irritatedly. But this guy was a human, so he grudgingly he said, "It's Hitsugaya Toushirou." Without another word, Toushirou walked towards the cash register, without asking the customary questions, like 'how did you know me?' and 'who are you?' because he already knew. Undaunted, Hiko followed Toushirou.

"I'm Sakabishi Hiko. An underclassman from my high school described you with your white hair. I heard you attend Karakura University?"

The cash registrar rang up Toushirou's purchase. "That'll be 420 yen for two riceballs and a bag of crackers, thank you."

Toushirou chose to ignore the question as he paid the 420 yen and started for the door. Trailing after him, Hiko immediately followed up with another question, "You must be some kind of genius. You're at least two years younger than me..." Actually, Toushirou thought, he was much older than the soccer captain. He exited the convenience store.

Without even buying anything, Hiko exited after Toushirou, whom after a bit of one-sided conversation (Hiko was doing the talking, of course), he found to be short on words. He had suspected the Toushirou boy since Yuzu had mentioned him. Truthfully, he wanted to see if Toushirou would lead to where Karin was. Realizing this, Toushirou turned and said, "This is where we part ways."

Taken aback, Hiko momentarily watched as Toushirou turned the corner. He stretched out his hand and exclaimed, "Wait!" By the time Hiko gathered himself and dashed after Toushirou around the corner, the alley was empty. Cursing, Hiko walked back home.

Watching Hiko's retreat from a nearby roof, Toushirou sighed. So he was starting to be suspected by humans as well.

With the rice balls and crackers, Toushirou returned to the forest, but found Karin had disappeared from her usual spot. Putting a hand to his mouth, he called out, "Oi~ Kurosaki!"

When she didn't answer, he figured she was taking a bath in the lake again, and sat down to wait. After ten minutes of waiting, Toushirou became impatient. The lake was cold; she couldn't be taking this long, he reasoned. He made to approach the lake, when he noticed that Karin's spiritual presence wasn't in the forest.

First he was confused. Where was she? When his brain provided the obvious answer, he became angry. How could she irresponsibly leave the forest? What if someone saw her mask? What if she lost her self-control and then ate some spirit wandering by? The chances were low, as there were no longer any spirits around because they'd all been hollowfied... Then he panicked, because his thought process was suggesting that Karin had finished hollowfying. Sure, the mask had reformed each time, but hadn't she been breaking it? But he hadn't seen her break the mask in person. He only had hearsay from a spiritually unstable girl.

Toushirou dashed out of the forest. Frowning in concentration, he strained to track Karin down. He finally caught a wisp of her spiritual energy. He followed the trail down the street, down the alley, and halfway up another street, he found himself in front of a candy shop. He had been here before; it was Urahara Kisuke's shop. He stood there for a while, before a red haired kid slammed the door open. He called to Toushirou, "Oi. Are you going to come the hell in or not?"

Toushirou crossed his arms and asked, "Where is Kurosaki?"

Likewise, Jinta crossed his arms and answered, "You mean the black porcupine?" He turned around, and tossed over his shoulder, "Come see for yourself, Snow White."

Forcing himself to repress his anger at the nickname, (still, a vein popped out of his forehead) Toushirou followed Jinta in. He stepped through the doorway and was greeted by the store owner, in all his green and white striped hat glory.

"Urahara Kisuke." Toushirou stated.

Tipping his hat forwards, Urahara asked, "Oya, what is the 10th division Captain doing here?"

At this Toushirou returned, "You know fully well what I'm here for." He repeated the same question he had asked Jinta, "Where is Kurosaki?"

Urahara answered by popping his fan open to hide a sly smile from his face; but one could still detect a grin in his voice as he remarked, "My, we're getting impatient, are we? Well, I'll take you to Karin-san right now." Turning, Urahara led Toushirou down the hall, and slid open a screen door. Inside the room, Karin lay on a futon, bandages around her neck and her eyes closed. Her face was bare; mask-free. Eyes widening from disbelief, Toushirou walked past Urahara and knelt beside Karin. He looked back at Urahara, eyes questioning.

"How did she get like this?"

"She was worse when I found her. She had collapsed outside the forest and was close to death." Reading Toushirou's face expression and concluded that he was silently asking for elaboration, Urahara obliged by continuing, "She was bleeding from a neck wound that looked like someone was centimeters away from ripping out her windpipe. Tessai healed her but there were limits to what he could do, so we had to wrap bandages around the wound." The young captain seemed to have no more questions, so it was Urahara's turn to ask the questions.

"She had been undergoing hollowfication, am I correct?"

Toushirou reluctantly nodded. "Yes."

"And pray tell me," Urahara asked, "How did she end up hollowfying? Was it from an attack by a fellow hollowfied human?"

This time, the white haired captain shook his head. "It was from a needle shot in the neck, like most of the others. But you're right; there are a few cases where the bodies were abandoned after a hollow mauled them. And the corresponding hollowfied spirit was always nearby its body."

At this, Urahara nodded and explained, "As you may have heard, the hollowfication attack about a century ago was of a similar nature. So you taught her to resist the hollow by – ?"

"Meditating."Toushrou finished Urahara's sentece, and added, "She was already resisting her inner hollow when I found her though."

After a pause, examining Karin's maskless face, Toushirou breathed, "And now she's defeated her inner hollow."

Urahara nodded. "So it appears." The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes as he surveyed Karin. _'Now the question is, what form will her spiritual power take?'_

...

Karin was awake even before she opened her eyes. Morning sunlight pricked at her eyelids, making her squint when she finally opened her eyes. But Karin's eyes adjusted to the brightness of the morning light. She ached all over. Sitting up with a groan, she noticed a slight weight on her legs. It was The Boy, looking like he had fallen asleep while watching over her. She looked around at her surroundings. "Where am I?" It looked familiar somehow.

As if to answer her question, the door slid open to reveal Ururu. The girl looked at Karin and said quietly, "You're awake, Karin-san. Then I'll get Kisuke-san." With that said, she slid the door shut again. Ururu's introverted personality hadn't changed one bit over the years, Karin thought to herself. Well, at least she knew where she was now. It was the candy shop. _'No wonder it looked familiar.'_

She was alone with The Boy again. She reached towards him, her fingertips almost brushing against his hair, when the door slid open again. Pulling her hand back guiltily, she saw that this time it was a man carrying a fan with a white and green striped hat. She recognized the shop owner. She bowed awkwardly, the best she could pull off while sitting down.

"Thanks for taking care of me. Nice to meet you, err..." Karin trailed off, realizing she didn't know his name.

Waving his fan, the shop owner said, "No need to be so formal. The name's Urahara Kisuke." So this was whom Ururu had gone to get, Karin realized.

Glancing at the weight on her legs, Karin asked, "How'd this guy get here?"

"He must have followed the trail of reiatsu you left behind." Urahara replied, peering over his fan at The Boy.

"Yeah, that makes sense -" stopping short, Karin frowned. How did this man know that term? Mentally slapping her forehead, she remembered Ururu and Jinta, and their spiritual powers; it only stood to reason that their caretaker, the shop owner, wouldn't be ordinary. He might even be a shinigami. At the commotion, The Boy stirred, shifting on Karin's legs. He sat up groggily.

Seeing Karin, he seemed to wake up. "Kurosaki!" He exclaimed.

With a grin, Urahara asked him, "Are you up now, Toushirou-kun?"

Glaring at the shop owner, Toushirou corrected, "It's Hitsugaya Taichou." He glanced at Karin.

Staring back into his turquoise eyes, Karin thought, _'So his name is Toushirou...'_

...

A.N_: _Finally finished!


	7. Reunion

**Chapter 7: Reunion**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine, Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 7**

Reunion

…

"So your name is Toushirou?" Karin questioned the silver haired boy, who cocked an eyebrow at her.

Looking at The-Girl-Who-Had-No-Idea-What-His-Name-Was-Until-Now through half-lidded eyes, Toushirou asked, annoyed, "You mean you didn't even know my name?"

"Well, you never told me." Defended Karin.

"You never asked!" Toushirou shot back.

His white fan hiding the majority of his face, Urahara popped in between the two, saying, "If I may interrupt, lovebirds - "

The two turned around and simultaneously roared with all the fierceness of a lion (or a lioness) going after its prey, "We're NOT lovebirds!"

Seemingly nervous at their outburst, the man backed off, using his fan as a shield. "Alright alright… go back to what you two were doing…"

But after the interruption, the flow of the argument had already been broken. Toushirou instead directed his anger somewhere else, namely at the interrupter, Urahara; turning to face the shopkeeper Toushirou asked without interlude, "What were you planning when you brought her here?"

Urahara waved his fan, feigning a carefree manner, and said, "Oh my, why on earth would a handsome and ordinary shopkeeper such as I, be planning something? I simply just had Tessai heal her. Just what a good Samaritan would do."

Karin muttered under her breath, "Handsome and ordinary my ass…" Luckily her comment went unheard by both parties.

Toushirou repeated, "I'm asking again. What are you planning?"

When Urahara didn't answer, Toushirou narrowed his eyes and moved as if to attack him, but before he could, the man said in a deceptively friendly tone that didn't match the dangerous glint in his eyes, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You may be a captain of the Gotei 13, but I'm afraid you don't stand a chance against me in that gigai. You are seriously mistaken if you think your gigai is on par with mine, not to mention the difference in our levels of experience of fighting in them."

Toushirou gritted his teeth, while Karin looked back and forth between the two. _'So shinigami have a hierarchy as well…'_ she thought. But at that point, such an observation was not important then; what was important was the situation at hand. It looked like a fight was about to break out so she remained on guard during the tense silence.

Toushirou broke silence first. "Don't be fooled by his friendly manner," he warned Karin. "He has a track record for manipulating people."

"Oh my… what an accusation." commented Urahara, doing his best to look innocent.

Turning to him, Toushirou ground out, "Excuse us, but Kurosaki's family is waiting for her, and she needs to go back."

"Hey, wait –" Despite Karin's protests, Toushirou dragged her out of the candy shop. Still trapped in Toushirou's hold, Karin tried to escape. When she realized that her efforts were in vain, Karin stretched out her arm towards Jinta and Ururu, who were sweeping outside. "Help!" she cried.

Instead of acting on her plea, Jinta called, "Oi, Black Porcupine and Snow White! Don't ever come back!" Ururu, on the other hand, waved goodbye.

Though Karin shouted something rude back (something along the lines of 'lacking loyalty among Karakura heroes'), Toushirou managed to ignore the nickname 'Snow White' and continued to drag her along. He started, "You're awfully hard to drag –" Then he noticed that Karin was digging her heels into the ground, making it hard to go back home on purpose. He stopped and glared at her. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't want to go home…" Karin mumbled.

Abruptly, Toushirou hoisted her up and threw her over his shoulder and resumed walking. The surprise at his strength only lasted for a second, then almost immediately, Karin began to resist. "Let go of me! I can walk on my own!" She beat his back with her fists, but it was futile as she was still weak from her wounds.

"And let you run away? Yeah right!" Toushirou said sarcastically. "Why don't you want to go back?"

Karin shouted in reply, "I made my family worry for over a week!" She shuddered and groaned, "Beard-Oyaji would kill me if I went back…" Giving up on resisting, Karin slumped onto Toushirou's shoulder and added, "So would Ichi-nii."

Adjusting his grip on her hip, Toushirou asked, "So not going back is a better alternative, is it?"

Karin hesitated and admitted, "No…"

"You're just being childish."

"No I'm not." Karin was adamant on this.

Resisting the urge to hit the stubborn girl, Toushirou kept walking. "You miss your family, right? So shut up and let me carry you back home."

…

Meanwhile, Urahara was grinning slyly. _'If she's anything like her brother, she'll want to learn how to control her powers. And for that, she'll definitely come back.'_

A black cat was wandering on the roof of the shop, its claws scraping against the roof tiles. It stopped over Urahara's head and spoke. "Is she what you called me for?" Yoruichi sounded amused.

Pensively, Urahara nodded. "She's an undeveloped soul, but she still defended herself against a hollow's takeover. I want to see what her spiritual manifestation is."

Flicking her tail, Yoruichi meowed, "That can be arranged."

…

"How long are you going to keep carrying me like a sack of potatoes?" Karin asked in a dull voice. "Just let me down already. I promise I won't run."

The carrier in question replied, "Don't be stupid. You can barely stand in that condition." Then Toushirou decided to poke fun at her just for kicks. "Or did you did you just ask that question to suggest that I carry you bridal style?"

At that question, what remaining patience Karin had snapped. "Idiot! I just want to walk by myself! I don't want to be carried bridal style by _anybody_!"

Their voices carried a rather large radius, causing people to look at the source: a grubby girl arguing with the boy who was carrying her on his shoulder.

Hearing a familiar voice shouting, Hiko stopped and looked around. _'Could it be…?'_ he wondered.

The two were so wrapped up in their argument they didn't notice other people, namely Hiko, staring. Hiko squinted and said, "Kurosaki? Is that you?"

At Hiko's voice, Karin froze. Toushirou swore, and carefully placed Karin on her unsteady feet. He always had his guard up, but for some reason, he raised it up even more around this boy named Hiko. Nervously looking at the captain of her soccer team, Karin said, "Capt…"

Approaching them, Hiko looked Karin over, and seeing her grimy and wounded state, his eyes widened with worry. Karin blushed under his scrutiny. Taking hold of her shoulders, he asked, "What happened to you! You look like you've been through hell and back."

'_You have no idea…'_ Karin thought ironically. But she couldn't avoid answering his question. "Err… That is…" Karin trailed off, suddenly very interested in the dirt. She wished the ground would swallow her up to get her out of the situation: she was very bad at lying. "To tell you the truth… I was…" She gave a sideways glance towards Toushirou, silently asking for help.

Catching the look she was giving him, Toushirou sighed. Rolling his eyes towards the heavens, he thought despairingly, _'Why am I not surprised…'_ But with his quick thinking, Toushirou came up with a likely story on the spot. "She was kidnapped, and forced to call her family with a likely story to explain her absence. As you can see, she's had it rough."

"Kidnapped!" Hiko exclaimed. "People have been disappearing lately, it's all over the news, did you see any other people?"

Afraid that she would give anything away Toushirou answered for her in a lie. "I don't think the disappearances have anything to do with her kidnapping." Sweating, Karin nodded her head; agreeing with Toushirou was the best option. "H-he rescued me!" Karin stammered, pointing at Toushirou. It wasn't exactly a lie, either. He _had_ rescued her, in a sense, by teaching her meditation enabling her to defeat the hollow. And given her food, let's not forget that.

Hiko turned to Toushirou and thanked him, albeit a bit uncomfortably. "Thanks for saving _my_ team member, Toushirou."

Unduly annoyed by a human boy calling him by his given name without even adding the honorific, Toushirou was also bothered by something else he couldn't define. What was he getting so riled up for? Forcing himself to be calm, Toushirou replied, "No need to thank me."He silently added, _'I didn't do it for you.'_ And technically, in his opinion, he had just ferried food to Karin. Scowling, Toushirou said as much. "I did nothing." He picked up Karin again, this time bridal style, shocking Karin.

"Toushirou - "

He interrupted, "It's time we head home." Toushirou nodded coldly towards Hiko and headed off, carrying Karin.

Hiko stood still for a moment before chasing after them. "Hey, wait! I'd better carry her, I'm bigger than you."

Toushirou took that to mean 'I'm stronger and taller than you,' which is what Hiko had really meant this time. He didn't hand Karin over; instead, Toushirou tightened his hold on her. "No thanks." He said coolly, "I'm plenty strong enough." before he resumed walking.

Hesitating, Hiko lingered, unwilling to let Karin go alone with that Toushirou dude. After a split second of decision-making, he followed them home.

All the while, Karin looked back and forth between the two boys, without the foggiest idea of what was going on. She had no idea what was up with the two, so she just signed it off the tension resulting from a fight between alpha males, which it kind of was.

Half-glancing at the boy behind them, Toushirou snorted quietly. _'Let him follow if he wishes to.'_ He thought to himself.

…

As the three came closer to the Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo's head snapped up; he felt Karin's spiritual energy just outside the house. Then he heard a knock on the door. Rukia and Rangiku stood up, looking at one another. Ichigo rushed to the front door. With trembling hands, he reached for the door handle, and it clicked open to reveal...

"Karin…" Ichigo whispered.

She was being carried by Toushirou and behind them stood Hiko, but Ichigo only had eyes for his younger sister.

Karin, likewise, stared at her brother, only vaguely registering Rukia and some strawberry blonde woman standing behind him. She didn't even seem to notice when Toushirou set her down.

"Ichi-nii!"

"Karin!"

Karin ran into her older brother's arms. In a trance, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, Ichigo reached out and hugged his little sister back. She was dirty and smelly, but she was solid. After making sure with all his five senses (six if he counted her spiritual pressure) Karin was really physically there, Ichigo slumped back and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The rest of the family came to investigate what all the commotion was about. When they saw Karin all dirty and beat up, Isshin and Yuzu exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Ehehe…" Karin laughed nervously.

"She was abducted." Toushirou cut in, giving a look to the other shinigami, indicating for them to keep quiet and go along with the story. Rangiku rolled her eyes; they already knew the drill without her captain telling them.

Shoving Ichigo aside, Isshin enveloped Karin in a huge hug and turned one the waterworks.

"Uwaaah~ Karin!"

Yuzu ran and joined in the hug. "We were so worried! I knew something was wrong when you called Onii-san and said you were at a soccer camp."

Though confused by the last sentence, because she hadn't called and definitely hadn't said she was at soccer camp, Karin assumed that was Ichi-nii's work, and smiled to herself. What had she been so worried about? Her family was glad she was back. And so was she. "It's good to be home."

From behind Toushirou, the soccer captain saw that the family needed some time alone and silently left.

But just after Hiko had left, the two let go of Karin and turned to Toushirou. "We were just about to eat lunch. Will you join us?" asked Yuzu with pleading eyes the exact opposite of her twin's stubborn one's.

Toushirou didn't get a chance to answer, as he was herded into the kitchen flanked by Karin's thankful twin and father for lunch. "Toushirou-kun, was it you who rescued Karin-chan from the clutches of that evil kidnapper?" Yuzu eagerly asked.

Slightly derailed by her eagerness, Toushirou stammered out a rather unconvincing reply. "Y-yeah… sure…"

Yuzu continued her barrage of questions. "How did you rescue her?"

Rukia rescued the uncharacteristically beleaguered Toushirou from answering that particular question. "Yuzu-chan, I don't think Karin-chan hasn't recovered from the shock yet."

Deflating a little at this, Yuzu said, "Oh, right." She turned to her twin and apologized. "Sorry, Karin-chan. It was a traumatizing experience, right?"

But the subject of discussion herself didn't look very traumatized. She had spied an apple lying on the kitchen counter and was about to take a big bite out if it when she realized all eyes were on her. "Huh?"

Trying to quell the rising suspicion, Rukia changed the topic. "Oh, Karin-chan, I'd forgotten! Have you met Rangiku-san yet?"

Mutely, Karin shook her head. Rukia motioned to the blonde woman standing in the doorway. The first thing she noticed about Rangiku (as most people did) was that she was _very_ busty. Rangiku introduced herself. The blonde woman raised her hand in greeting and said, "I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, Ichigo's friend from University."

Somehow, Karin doubted the part about being Ichi-nii's 'friend from university,' as she could sense a fair amount of spiritual energy coming from the woman, but she let it pass. For now. "I'm Karin." She reminded herself to ask Ichi-nii or Toushirou about this later.

They settled down to a lunch consisting of various things with lentil soup among them, a menu which Karin was very grateful for, as she had only eaten riceballs for the past week. She had missed Yuzu's cooking.

"To tell you the truth, Karin-chan," Yuzu sheepishly admitted, "Hiko-senpai and I were worried that you'd been staying at some guy's place."

At this, both Karin and Toushirou both choked on their soup. Ichigo traded suspicious looks with Rukia, but said nothing.

…

Later, Yuzu pushed Karin into the bathroom, saying sternly, "Karin-chan, you'd better wash up." Sticking her head back in through the doorway, she added, "And you'd better scrub too!"

"Yes, yes." With this reply, Karin waved her twin out.

With great relief, Karin peeled off her grimy school uniform (holding out her skirt like something nasty, between her index finger and thumb) and for the first time in over a week, Karin took a long, hot shower. She had never felt happier to put on fresh clothes (maybe it had a direct relationship with feeling clean). When Karin came out from the steaming bathroom, towel round her neck, she found herself face to face with the strawberry-blonde woman. "Matsumoto-san, right?"

The woman replied, "No need to be so formal, just call me Rangiku."

Familiar to feeling spiritual pressure around her, Karin could once again sense the rather large amount of reiatsu radiating from the woman in front of her. It was best to be direct. "Rangiku-san. Are you a shinigami from Soul Society too?"

Rangiku chuckled at Karin's direct question. "Yes, I am. In fact, I'm Hitsugaya Taichou's lieutenant."

"Lieutenant, huh?" That piqued her curiosity. "What's the hierarchy like in Soul Society anyways?"

Toushirou, who had come up behind Karin unnoticed, answered the question in Rangiku's stead. "It's called the Gotei 13." Jumping at his voice, Karin turned around. She hadn't felt his presence. Recovering quickly, Karin gave him a puzzled glance. Reading her questioning look, Toushirou explained, "The reason it's called that is because there are thirteen divisions. There's the Commanding Officer, who is also the First Division Captain. Including the First Division Captain, there are a total of thirteen captains and thirteen lieutenants. Then there are the seated officers, numbered from third to twentieth. The rest are unseated shinigami."

Looking from Rangiku back to Toushirou, Karin stated baldly, "Obviously the ranks aren't decided by age."

Toushirou rolled his eyes. At that moment, Ichigo and Rukia came. "Kurosaki, Kuchiki." Toushirou nodded at the two. "Good timing, I was just about to call you to explain Karin's situation."

Karin looked up, surprised. For the first time, Toushirou had called her by her given name. Then she realized that he had simply called her 'Karin' to differentiate her from her brother.

The five holed up Ichigo's room as usual to discuss shinigami matters, except that this time, it was about Karin.

"So aside from the abduction story, what really happened?" Ichigo questioned.

"She was undergoing hollowfication." After giving a brief summary of everything that had happened the past week, the young captain found himself bearing the brunt of Ichigo's anger.

"Why didn't you tell me where she was?" Ichigo all but yelled.

"See Taichou, I told you." Rangiku reminded Toushirou, who shot a dirty look at her.

Outraged, Ichigo turned to Rangiku. "You knew!"

"What would you have done if I had told you?" Toushirou asked, sparing his lieutenant from being grilled by Ichigo.

At this Ichigo stopped. "I would have… guided her. Taken her to the vizords." But he sounded unsure.

"This was a different type of hollowfication than what you went through. You were hollowfied because your chain of fate corroded while you were in spirit form; Karin was still in her body." said Toushirou in response. "Besides, you can't even do a simple kidou spell."

The last statement silenced Ichigo. Growing tired of people talking about her as if she weren't there, Karin finally declared, "Well, I came back didn't I?"

That effectively ended the conversation.

…

The next morning, Karin got up earlier than usual. Even before her twin. Glancing at Yuzu still sleeping soundly in her bed, Karin mused, "Jeez, is the earth spinning clockwise?"

Feeling unusually energetic considering her weak condition yesterday, she put on her jumpsuit and went out for a morning run. Because she had more time, she warmed up and selected a longer course to run. A morning run was always refreshing.

Karin slowed down to a jog as she realized that she was even more energetic than she had been before the hollowfication incident. That was odd. Slowly, she unwrapped the bandage around her neck, expecting the wounds to sting in the open air. They didn't. Tentatively putting her hands to her neck, Karin discovered they had completely healed; there weren't even scabs. She wondered if it had to do with the increase in her spiritual powers. Stuffing the bandage into her jacket pocket and making a mental note to herself to ask Toushirou what that was about, she sped up into a run again.

When she arrived back at home, Yuzu was shuffling around kitchen as usual. Stepping into the kitchen, Karin sniffed the air. "What's this I smell?"

"Congee!" chirped Yuzu.

Peering around the doorway, Rangiku asked, "Did I just hear someone say congee?"

Yuzu smiled brightly. "Yes, Rangiku-san. Congee!"

As the family and guests settled down to a congee breakfast, Karin looked around and asked, "Where's Toushirou? He stayed last night, didn't he?"

Nodding in reply, Yuzu said, "I haven't seen him this morning, though."

As if on cue, Toushirou stepped into the kitchen at that moment, closing his cellphone and putting it into his pocket. He visibly brightened at the sight of the congee, something that Karin hadn't ever seen him do before. Yuzu set out another bowl for him, and he seemed to down it in a split second. The whole Kurosaki family and Rukia watched, open mouthed, as Toushirou ate through half a pot of congee. Rangiku, who was used to seeing her captain's enormous appetite, continued to work on her own bowl of congee. Yuzu was all for politely ignoring the abnormally large amount of food Toushirou consumed. Karin said drily, "I'd only heard of bottomless pits until now. Never thought I'd see one in real life."

...

For the first time in over a week, Karin and Yuzu walked to school together. Karin had returned to her trademark pants, as she'd sworn the day she'd been hollowfied that she would never again wear a skirt to school. As soon as she sat down at her seat, however, she was approached by several people who asked her how soccer camp had been. She answered simply that she hadn't attended any soccer camp but had been sick the past week, as that was the most comfortable not-quite-a-lie that she could tell. But when Seta-senpai visited her classroom...

"Yo, Kurosaki."

Karin turned around and greeted Seta. "What's up, Senpai?"

Examining her closely, Seta said, "Heard you were sick last week."

Uncomfortably, Karin noted, "Rumors spread even to the upperclassmen, huh?"

"I can understand why you skipped soccer practice, but it seems uncharacteristic of you to even skip school." Seta added sternly, "And don't even give me the 'I was afraid of spreading my cold' excuse. Because that wouldn't normally stop you, would it?"

"Eheh..." He had a point.

Bending over, Seta whispered, "I was worried when I heard about what happened from Hiko..." Straightening, he said at regular volume, "But as far as I can see, you don't look like you've been through a kidnapping."

At this Karin gave a weak laugh. "I guess I'm just quick at recovering..." Hiko obviously couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut.

The bell rang, and Seta took off, muttering, "Oh shoot!" He waved to Karin. "See you at practice!"

Karin sighed and looked out the window. The homeroom teacher, commonly referred to as Ochi-sen, walked into the classroom, calling for the class' attention. "Everybody, a transfer student will be joining us from now on, so you guys go easy on him. Got it?" The whole class buzzed with excitement, excluding Karin, who was still looking out the window over the empty desk to her left. She only glanced up when Ochi-sen called out of the classroom, "Oi~ you can come in now!"

Karin half-heartedly cast her eyes towards the front of the classroom, and froze as a familiar silver-haired boy entered. Standing up at the front of the class he introduced himself. "I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou." It was a rather short introduction; consisting only of his name. Turning to the teacher, he asked, "Where should I sit?"

"In the empty seat next to the window, beside the messy-haired girl in the pants." The so-called 'messy-haired girl in the pants' was at a loss for words as Toushirou made for the desk next to her.

Karin could only stammer out, "Y-you-!"

While Ochi-sen started roll call, Yuzu leaned over Karin's desk and asked him, "Toushirou-kun, aren't you supposed to be attending University with Onii-chan?"

In a bored voice, Toushirou replied, "I got tired of it. So I'm taking a break." He smirked at Karin, who was opening and closing her mouth like a carp in outrage.

Not wanting Yuzu to hear, Karin leaned over to Toushirou and hissed, "What are you doing here?"

"I just decided to attend school." was the reply. But the truth was, that morning he had called for reinforcements from Soul Society and given a report on the situation in the human world, namely concerning Karin. Though the Commanding Officer had scolded him for keeping Karin a secret until then, Captain Yamamoto let him off easy, instructing him to watch over Karin lest the instigator of the series of hollowfication cases came back for her. He was also asked by Ichigo to keep his younger sister safe. So that made several reasons for Toushirou to enroll into the school.

Class passed relatively smoothly, with no teachers harping on Karin's uniform. If not for a certain _somebody's _presence, Karin would have been pleased with how little she had missed in the week she had gone. After classes, she crept away as girls who were begging to know more about Toushirou overwhelmed him. _'Serves him right.'_ Karin thought, snickering. She took refuge in the soccer field. Which really wasn't exactly the ideal refuge, as it was Hiko's territory.

She saw him kicking the soccer ball with some other teammates, and they quickly spotted her. "Hey, it's Kuro-chan!" They passed the ball over to her. She expertly stopped the ball's rotation with her foot and greeted them.

"Kuro-chan, I heard from Seta that you were sick! What was the thing about the soccer camp?"

Karin glanced at Hiko, who had apparently kept her 'abduction' a secret from everybody but Seta. "Yeah, that soccer camp thing was just bull. I was sick, but I'm better now."

Then the coach came over and clapped Karin on the shoulder. "Good to see you back, Kurosaki. I see you've gotten a bit thinner. You'll have to work out again; no worries, you'll gain the muscle back in no time. Feeling confident for the upcoming district tournament?"

Nodding, Karin flexed her bicep and grinned. "Feeling better than ever, Coach."

After the coach's pep talk, the team divided up into two groups to play a mini-scrimmage and Karin found herself playing center forward opposing Hiko. As the whistle blew, she quickly took control of the ball and maneuvered under the taller Hiko's outstretched arm. She motioned for the other forwards to move up the field as she dribbled the ball. Seeing an unguarded teammate, she passed the ball to him and ran ahead, expecting it to be passed back to her. But she could see the shadow of a player behind her. It seemed like Hiko was guarding her.

Unbeknownst to the two players, Toushirou (who had escaped the girls) followed the match from the stands.

...

A.N: Phew, this chapter is just filler stuff. ¬_¬ The next chapter contains more... adventurous substance.


	8. Attempted Abduction

**Chapter 8: Attempted Abduction**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A.N: The espada's ranks are ordinal numbers in Spanish. If you doubt me, just look it up here: studyspanish lessons/ordnum. htm (get rid of the spaces) I dunno why Grimmjow's rank (sexta=six) was in feminine form though; ask Kubo Tite for the answer to that one.

…

**Chapter 8**

Attempted Abduction

…

The next day, Karin wasn't looking forward to school. Neither was she looking forward to soccer, which was unusual for her.

**Flashback:**

_"What? He's joining the team?" Karin yelled incredulously at the coach, pointing at Toushirou._

_The snowy-haired boy in question raised an eyebrow in response. "You got a problem with that?"_

_Karin replied heatedly, "Yes, in fact, I do! There are so many other people lined up to join, but you get first priority? What about all the substitutes? What about the guy he's replacing? Will Yamanaka just be benched for the rest of the season?"_

_The coach insisted, "You forget, Yamanaka got suspended for the rest of the season. And Hitsugaya may not have been here for the official tryouts, but I've seen him play and he's better than all of the people who didn't make the team."_

_Hiko took a plunge. "Wait, wait… weren't you a university student?" he asked Toushirou._

_Toushirou eyed him coldly. "I grew tired of University life and wanted to take a break. Satisfied?" he explained, sounding sufficiently harried._

_Hiko eyed Toushirou doubtfully. "By attending high school? And a freshman class, at that?"_

_When Toushirou gave him a freezing glare, Hiko ceased to ask questions._

…

_Later, when the two were alone, Karin placed her hands on her hips and glared venomously at Toushirou. Grinning with all the friendliness of a hungry saber-toothed tiger, she asked him dangerously, "First my home, then school, in _my_ class to boot, and _then_ my soccer team?"_

_Nonchalantly, Toushirou shrugged. "I was supposed to join a club, and soccer is what I chose. It has nothing to do with you."_

_At this, Karin exploded. "That's ridiculous! Are you my keeper? Was it Ichi-nii who set you up to this? To protect me?"_

_Toushirou turned his back on her and walked away; this discussion was obviously over._

**End Flashback**

That morning, Hiko surprised Karin by showing up at their front door to pick her and Yuzu up. "Capt..."

"Hey, Kurosaki."

Where she might have felt flattered a few weeks ago, now Karin felt distinctly uncomfortable, and it wasn't because Yuzu was looking over her shoulder to look at who had come to pick them up. "What about your girlfriend?" Karin asked as she passed through the door, looking around as if she expected for Hiko's girlfriend to pop out from behind the shrubs.

Rolling his eyes, Hiko answered the question with another question. "What about her?" he asked carelessly.

As Karin and Yuzu both opened their mouths to dispute his answer, Hiko saw Toushirou following them out the door. His eyes widened. "Oi, Kurosaki… don't tell me... he's staying at your place?"

Forgetting what she had been about to say, Karin huffed, "He is." She was still angry about Toushirou being assigned to protect her.

However, unlike Karin, Toushirou didn't miss the jealous tone in Hiko's voice and rolled his eyes; human boys were so easily rattled, especially when it came to the object of their affections. He too had once... Toushirou shook himself off that line of thought. His ice blue eyes caught Hiko's brown ones. The latter's were radiating anger. The temperature seemed to drop as Toushirou deigned to glare back.

Meanwhile, Karin, oblivious to the spark-inducing atmosphere between the two boys, slung her backpack over her shoulder and strode ahead. Yuzu on the other hand, looking over her shoulder, noticed the boys glaring at each other and swallowed nervously. She glanced at Karin. Karin, noticing her twin's nervousness, questioned, "What's wrong, Yuzu?"

Yuzu sighed and shook her head.

The walk to school was awkward to say the least, as it was completely silent between the four of them, with two glaring daggers at each other, one looking nervously at them, and the remaining one totally ignorant of it all.

Suddenly, Karin felt an enormous spiritual pressure drop down on them.

Letting out a small gasp, Yuzu's eyes rolled up into her head. "Yuzu!" Karin cried out. "Get a grip!" Karin caught her twin as she dropped to the ground. She shook Yuzu, but it was useless; Yuzu had already lost consciousness.

Clutching his chest, Hiko fell to his knees and made out in a strangled voice, "K-Kurosaki..." before he too, passed out.

Seeing how the spiritual pressure was enough to knock both her twin and the soccer captain unconscious immediately, Karin gulped. Cold sweat dripped down her neck as she glanced at Toushirou. He had already swallowed a soul candy and his shinigami form burst out of his gigai; he placed one hand on the zanpakutou strapped across his back, his white captain's haori billowing out behind him. He was glaring up into the sky as if expecting something, so Karin looked up as well. Her eyes were inexplicably drawn to one spot.

"Take them someplace safe." Toushirou ordered his faux body, his eyes still fastened on the sky.

His gigai bowed and answered, "Yes, master." The fake body then proceeded to take Yuzu from Karin and then pick Hiko up as if they weighed nothing, and shot off in the direction of the school.

Toushirou spoke again. "Go with them, Kurosaki."

"No way." Karin answered more bravely than she actually felt, but she could not hide the quaver in her voice. She was unable to tear her eyes off the area her eyes had first fixed upon; she felt sure the ominous spiritual pressure was emitting from there. As she stared, that very spot in the sky started to open like a big mouth. This time more aggressively, Toushirou yelled, "I said: get away from here!"

Still, Karin stayed firmly rooted to the spot. She was staring at the hole in the sky and into the darkness behind it, realizing that she had felt similarly powerful spiritual pressures before. Four yeas ago, in the winter, to be exact.

"Arrancar…" Toushirou said in a low voice.

Despite being scared, Karin was confused. Bewildered, she asked, "Arrancar? What's that?" As if to answer her question, two men clad in white clothing stepped out of the opening in the sky. Squinting at them, at first, Karin could have mistaken them for humans. But that obviously couldn't be it: they had stepped out of the sky.

Fascination temporarily overcoming her fear, Karin jumped up onto a nearby roof for a closer look; Toushirou's shout of warning fell on deaf ears. As they descended, she saw that the two men had holes in their chests and were wearing partial skull masks. Her gaze lingered on their skeletal masks and her eyes widened in realization.

"Hollows…? But how - "

The rest of her sentence was lost as a hand grabbed her wrist. Startled, Karin turned and saw it was Toushirou's grip; he had followed her up onto the roof and was literally seething. His icy eyes furious, he growled, "Karin! What are you doing?"

Distracted by the humanoid hollows, it barely registered that he had called her 'Karin' for the second time.

"Are these what Ichi-nii was facing four years ago?" She asked, shaken.

Agitated, Toushirou yelled, "Yes! Now hurry up and get out of here while you still have the chance! I'll hold them off!"

Leaping off the roof, Karin finally followed Toushirou's advice. She ran back in the direction of her house, unconsciously using flash step. When she saw houses flashing past her, she realized that each step she took carried her hundreds of meters. Stopping, she looked over her shoulder in Toushirou's direction. In the distance, he was already a speck. Another speck she presumed was a hollow swooping down on him, supposedly engaged in battle. But there was only one hollow when there should have been two. Where had the other one gone?

"I'm right here, if you're looking for me." A voice whispered beside her ear.

Startled because she hadn't heard, or felt, him approach, Karin swung her arm around at the source of the voice. The hollow, or as Toushirou called them, arrancar, just laughed softly and leapt up out of her reach. His skull mask formed a monocle around his eye. In addition to that, he had a white top hat and was wearing a white hakama resembling a suit. Reaching into the pocket of his suit jacket with a gloved hand, he pulled out a pocket watch attached to a gold chain. The arrancar opened the watch with a click and checked the time.

"Point oh-one seconds. Your reflexes are quick." The arrancar commented. But suddenly he vanished, reappearing behind Karin. "But not quick enough."

Not wanting to get caught from behind again, Karin hastily jumped into the air. To her surprise, she didn't fall. Growing confident, she leapt even higher, and settled into a fighting position. The arrancar threw back his head and laughed. Guardedly, Karin examined him. Noticing her eyes carefully following him, the man smiled, slid two fingers over to the lid of his pocket watch, and shut it slowly. "You have so many openings, Kurosaki Karin."

Surprised that he knew her name, Karin slipped out of the air a bit. "How do you know my name?" She demanded.

The arrancar just smiled enigmatically and didn't answer her question. Then he pretended to be surprised, "Oh, forgive my dreadful manners. I've forgotten to introduce myself. I know your name but you have yet to know mine. The Segundo Espada, Caballero Sonriete Asesino*, at your service." He placed a hand over his heart and bowed, the epitome of a perfect European gentleman.

*Caballero Sonriete Asesino = Gentleman Smiling Assassi

As he bowed, Karin glimpsed the number 2 tattooed on the back of his ungloved right hand. She thought to herself, _'So that's what Segundo means."_

…

While Karin was confronting the Segundo Espada, Toushirou was facing off with the other arracar.

As it was tradition in Soul Society to introduce one's name and status, Toushirou automatically introduced himself, "I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou, Captain of the 10th division."

"Hooh~ 10th division Captain, eh? They obviously don't choose captains by age."

Used to the jabs about his young age and contradicting status, Toushirou ignored this.

"So I get to create a young corpse, eh? And one of the captain class too. You're going to make a good addition to my corpse collection. Caballero's going to regret missing this one."

Unsheathing his sword, Toushirou's opponent introduced himself as well. "I'm Mirra Hablar*, numeros 36."

*Mirra Hablar = Mummy Speaking

Leveling his blade towards the arrogant arrancar that called himself Mirra, Toushirou asked, "Where did your partner go?"

The arrancar he was facing off against grinned. "Caballero? Off to catch the other one."

"What othe – " Toushirou stopped midsentence in realization, his blood running colder than Hyourinmaru's released form.

"Karin…" He whispered.

Mirra winked, "Bingo!" then he attacked. Shaking himself out of his own state of shock, Toushirou just barely managed to block the strike in time. They were face to face, with swords locked in between them. But Toushirou glanced urgently to the side where Karin had taken off. Noticing Toushirou's distraction, the numeros shook his head in mock woe, saying, "Losing your focus over a girl? It won't do if you leave me to go and rescue her. Then who'll I play with?"

Gritting his teeth, Toushirou pushed Hyourinmaru forward with a scraping sound, and drove his opponent back several steps. Then, using his strength, he swung his sword to the side, causing Mirra to stumble back. Quickly, Mirra regained his footing. Grimacing, he yelled, "Envolvió, Vendajes*!"

*Envolvio, Vendajes = Wind/entwine, bandages

The partial mask stretched into a sort of bandage, giving Mirra the look of a mummy, except the bone bandages shot out and also wrapped themselves around Toushirou. Grinning while Toushirou futilely resisted the holds, Mirra taunted, "The second Espada should be just about ready to take her back to Hueco Mundo with us; that is, if he isn't playing around. But you should focus on the person about to wrap up your life, shinigami." Then he laughed at his own joke. "Ahahaha! Get it? Wrap up!"

Despite his cool exterior, inside, Toushirou was panicking. '_Second Espada!'_

This had to be quick. Seeing it was going to be hard to end this particular numeros quickly without releasing his shikai, Toushirou shouted, "Souten ni Zase (Reign upon the Frosted Heavens), Hyourinmaru!"

With a rattling clink, a chain protruded from the hilt of the sword, growing longer and longer; finally, with a slicing sound, a crescent shaped blade appeared at the end of the chain. Throwing the crescent shaped blade, the chain wrapped around Mirra's appendages, freezing them. When they were properly encased in ice, Toushirou easily snapped them by sharply tightening his limbs. As the ice crumbled around him, Toushirou swung Hyourinmaru, sending a wave of ice towards Mirra. The arrancar easily fended off the ice by raising a calcium bandage.

"Don't think you can get me with -" Mirra stopped short, realizing the chain had wrapped around his torso. But he realized it too late, and he barely had time to yelp in protest before he was encased in ice.

Toushirou had used his first swing to distract the numeros and the second to wrap the chain around Mirra from behind. As he swung his long sword aside, the ice shattered along with Mirra.

Toushirou then rushed to where he felt Karin's spiritual presence. _'Please let me make it in time.'_

But he felt two more spiritual pressures drawing rapidly near.

…

Meanwhile, Karin was playing what Caballero called a 'game of tag,' where he was 'it.'

The rules were clear: if she managed to evade him for fifteen minutes, he would let her go; if he caught her within the designated fifteen minutes, then she were to follow him back to Hueco Mundo - wherever that was - without protest. She didn't know if he'd even keep his word. But because she didn't stand a bleeding bunny's chance in a den of tigers against him otherwise, she had no choice but to comply with these conditions.

So Karin was running away with her version of flash step, and he was chasing her with what he called sonido. So far, she had lasted for eight minutes, but it was obvious that Caballero was toying with her. Karin was panting heavily (like a dog), but he hadn't so much as broken a sweat. The Second Espada demonstrated his relaxed manner by tipping his white top hat forward and smiling.

Suddenly, he paused and stood still. Karin noticed one of the two clashing spiritual pressures in the distance had disappeared, and it certainly wasn't Toushirou's.

With a sigh, Caballero remarked, "So Mirra has been defeated." Turning to Karin once more, he said, "You've evaded me well so far. Shall we up the ante?"

Eyes widening, Karin suddenly felt the air weigh down on her with the increase in spiritual pressure. Her movements slowed down drastically, and before she knew it, Caballero was right beside her. But before he could do anything to her, three figures clothed in black appeared between the two. Two figures were tall and one was rather short.

"Are you alright?" The voice came from the shortest shinigami in front of her.

Relief flooded into Karin like a tidal wave. Ichigo, Rukia, and Rangiku were standing with their backs to her.

In answer to Rukia's question, Karin nodded, "Yes." Her voice was a hoarse whisper. She stared at her brother's back, broad and steady; his presence was comforting.

Ichigo shifted his hold on his zanpakutou. "Don't mess with my sister, you bastard." He lunged for the Segundo Espada, who stopped his sword with just an outstretched hand.

"What vulgar vocabulary, Kurosaki Ichigo. And why would you think I was 'messing' with your sister? We were merely engaging in an innocent game of tag."

Caballero wrapped his fingers around the blade of Zangetsu and snapped it easily in two. Dropping the half of the blade that he held in his hand, Caballero sighed in mock disappointment.

"Your blade is weak with fear, Kurosaki Ichigo. Are you afraid of battle? Or are you afraid of losing your sister?"

Shocked, Ichigo's eyes followed the blade's fall to earth. Before Karin had a chance to rethink her opinion of her brother being unbeatable, Caballero had taken hold of her.

"Let go of me!" Karin struggled with all her might, but her arms were pinned to her sides and she couldn't fight her way out of Caballero's hold. Suddenly, she felt an excruciating pain, not unlike the pain she had experienced prior to her mask forming. At least that pain had been fleeting. It was as if a chunk of her were being _removed._ After the pain subsided, she felt tired, like she had played twenty soccer games in a row.

Ichigo stood, helpless, looking down at the broken Zangetsu. Had he really gotten weak?

Shaking Ichigo, Rukia shouted, "Idiot! Don't just stand there!" Cursing, she released her zanpakutou. "Sode no Shirayuki!" and her sword turned snow white. "First dance; white moon!" But Caballero easily jumped out of Rukia's way, leaving a pillar of ice where he had previously stood.

"That would have been dangerous." Caballero commented lightly. "What if you had caught this young lady here?"

Rangiku's thoughts raced. They only needed to stall for some more time. She could feel her captain's spiritual pressure, along with two others, getting nearer by the second. She joined in, "Growl, Haineko!" Her zanpakutou turned into what seemed like dust and spread out, but the arrancar danced out of reach.

"If I've analyzed the nature of your blade accurately, each particle of ash acts as its own blade, correct?" Caballero observed. Then, grinning like a cheshire cat, he asked Rangiku, "Do you have enough control over your zanpakutou to avoid cutting this cute girl I'm holding?"

Rangiku grit her teeth but made no move to attack; what Caballero said was right. He had seen through her bluff.

"It would be wise to let go of her while you still can, arrancar." A familiar voice rang out. All five combatants, (three shinigami, one arrancar, and one human) looked over to its source. Karin's eyes locked onto turquoise ones.

There was Toushirou, accompanied by her savior in sandals and a dark skinned woman she didn't recognize.

"Karin!" Toushirou shouted.

Stepping forward and swinging his cane in a carefree manner, Urahara remarked, "It's ungentlemanly take a woman hostage."

"And it's ungentlemanly to be dressed in such an unseemly manner without even shaving. Not to mention that terrible hat." Caballero rebutted, touching the brim of his own immaculate top hat.

"I never claimed to be a gentleman. I'm only the humble, yet handsome owner of a sweet shop nearby, that's all."

Following Urahara's statement, the dark skinned woman shoved him to the side. A nanosecond later, a hollow bullet passed through exactly where Urahara's head had been.

"Oops. Forgive me, my hand slipped." Caballero apologized disingenuously.

"Watch out, Kisuke." The woman said sardonically.

Rubbing his shoulder where Yoruichi had pushed him, Urahara complained, "That was a bit harder than necessary, Yoruichi-san. Besides, I could have dodged that myself."

"But whatever possessed you to proclaim yourself handsome?" Yoruichi pointedly asked.

Caballero's green eyes flickered between the two. "I tire of your exchange." With that justification, Caballero fired two hollow bullets; one at Urahara, who nullified it, and the other at Yoruichi, who easily dodged it. At their quick movements, Caballero raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh?" Raising a hand, he fired a cero, which enveloped them all.

Karin cried out in panic, "Ichi-nii! Toushirou!"

Suddenly, Toushirou came through the light of the cero. He had split it in two with his sword. Ice gathered around Hyourinmaru, prepared to strike on his master's command. "I warned you... Let go of her!" He swung Hyourinmaru down at Caballero, the ice whipping down and curling ahead.

Ichigo on the other hand, emerged from the smoke, his shihakushou changed into a black cloak with red, tattered ends, and he held a black sword much smaller than the 'oversized kitchen knife' he normally used. He was followed by Urahara, who too had blocked the attack, and they shouted simultaneously, "Getsuga Tenshou!" "Sing, Behime!" Their attacks formed an 'X' shape, one line coming from Zangetsu black and the other from Benhime red.

Though he dodged all three attacks, Caballero lost his composure for the first time in the realization that he was outnumbered. His hold on Karin loosened, and she took the chance to tear herself free from his grasp. Toushirou caught her and held her close as Caballero hastily opened the gate from whence he had come from.

Ichigo yelled, "Are you running away?"

As the sky closed in on him, Caballero tilted his white top hat forward in response. "A gentleman must know when it's best to retreat." Turning to Karin, he directed to her, "I will be back for you, my lady."

With a slam, the skies closed.

…

Later that day, Hiko didn't remember a thing. Neither did Yuzu. As soon as school ended, Karin sent Yuzu home and went directly to the candy shop. She called out to him. "Excuse me~! Anyone home?"

Immediately, the head of the store owner popped out of door. Looking him straight in the eye, Karin asked, "Who are you really?"

"Just an ordinary shopkeeper." was the answer.

At this, Karin lost her temper "Don't give me that bullsh – "

"He's the former captain of the 12th division." Karin turned towards the voice, and saw the dark skinned woman from earlier that day leaning in the doorway.

Karin had always suspected Urahara was a shinigami because he was abnormally well informed about the spirit world and had a zanpakutou to boot; now that she had confirmed his identity, whatever doubts Karin had were gone. She bowed her head and said to Urahara, "I'm tired of being protected and putting those around me in danger. Please teach me how to fight!"

Unbeknownst to Karin's bowed head, Urahara was smiling slyly.

...

A.N: Phew, this was a hard chapter to write.

Imagine Caballero as similar to Noah Tikki from D. Gray Man.


	9. Training

**Chapter 9: Training**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 9**

Training

…

Karin bowed her head. "Please teach me how to fight!"

There was a moment of suffocating silence, where Karin could literally feel Urahara's eyes gauging her, judging her seriousness, her intentions, her worth. Then she heard him draw breath, to say…

"No." With that short answer, Urahara's sandals clopped away.

Confused, Karin raised her head. As soon as she saw the shopkeeper sauntering away, the confusion turned into anger. Straightening, she cried out after him, "Am I not good enough? Is that it?"

Urahara looked over his shoulder. "What gave you the idea that you wouldn't be taught? I simply meant that _I_ don't intend to teach you, Karin-san." Turning to the dark skinned woman who had been watching the exchange with vague interest in her keen golden eyes, he addressed her, "Yoruichi-san?"

Momentarily disappearing only to reappear right beside Urahara, Yoruichi placed a hand on his shoulder and assured him, "Don't worry, Kisuke. I'll take over from here."

Nodding, Urahara replied, "I'll be counting on you."

Karin's new teacher beckoned to her, saying, "Follow me." Then she led Karin to a plain room. While Karin looked around in apparent dissatisfaction, Yoruichi removed a tatami mat in the middle of the floor. Karin's eyes stopped sweeping around the room and settled down on the square hole that the tatami mat revealed. So the room had a secret behind it after all. Curious, Karin looked down into the hole, and was surprised to see that there was a ladder stretching endlessly down. Or endless was what it seemed like. Without bothering to use the ladder, Yoruichi agilely jumped down, landing like a cat.

From Karin's point of view, Yoruichi looked like a speck. The speck called back up to Karin, "O~i! Don't be shy! Come on down!"

Karin gulped. Not wanting follow Yoruichi's example, (in case her ability stand on air failed her and she ended up with broken limbs) Karin started to climb down the ladder, which led down into what seemed like an underground… desert. When she was about quarter of the way down, Yoruichi grew impatient; leaping up impossibly high and grabbing Karin by the back of her collar, "Hurry…" she yanked her student down. "Up!"

Karin found herself falling. "Aaaaaaaagh!"

Standing on what appeared to be the air, Yoruichi looked down at the screaming Karin and commanded, "Calm down and analyze the situation!"

Karin clapped her hands over her mouth to muffle her scream, and realized in a split second what she needed to do. She twisted her body midair so she wouldn't fall on her back and somersaulted in the air to avoid landing facefirst, then safely landed on her feet. Having just narrowly avoided cracking her head open, Karin heaved a sigh of relief. Then, standing up, she glared up at Yoruichi. "Are you crazy? Do you plan on killing me?"

Neatly landing on the ground next to Karin, Yoruichi ignored the rhetorical questions and circled around the girl. Nodding pensively, she observed, "You've got a fair bit of muscle there." Then she paused and looked directly into Karin's eyes. "But we're going to have to do something about your spiritual pressure first."

Having said this, Yoruichi strode over to a boulder that stood about as tall as she did. Placing a hand on its rugged surface, she turned to face Karin.

"Pack as much spiritual pressure as possible into your fist, and punch this rock."

Karin, bemused, held up her fist, and looked at it. "…Pack… spiritual pressure into my fist?"

Examining her fist as if it was something alien to her, Karin then looked at her new teacher. "…How?"

Yoruichi slapped her forehead, exasperated. "Right. Your older brother was like this, too." For a moment, she stared intently at Karin as if wondering how best to explain it, before she waved a hand dismissively, "I'm not gonna explain it to you. First, I want to see how well you do on your own. Just focus on your fist and punch the rock."

With some trepidation, Karin went into a karate stance, and drew a deep breath as she pulled back her fist. Exhaling harshly, her fist collided with the boulder.

It sustained damage. 'It' referring to Karin's fist.

Attempting to hide her reddening fist behind her back, Karin resisted the urge to hold her hand and hop around in pain, which would be highly embarrassing. Instead, she laughed sheepishly. "Eheheh…"

Yoruichi stood, hands on her hips, unimpressed. "Is that all you can muster?"

The purple-haired woman shooed Karin to the side and demonstrated what she had meant by the phrase 'punch the rock.'

Yoruichi lunged, and in a flash, there was a smoking crater left where her fist had made contact. Seeing Karin's dismayed face expression, she reprimanded, "Don't look so surprised, I'm holding back as it is. At full power, I can blast this rock into pebbles." Stepping aside, Yoruichi ordered, "Now, try again."

Having seen what was expected of her right before her eyes, Karin prepared herself. It had been just a brief moment, but Karin had felt a strong flare of spiritual pressure in Yoruichi's fist right before she had hit the rock.

Suppressing feelings of doubt, Karin concentrated on forcing all of her spiritual energy into her fist; her fist suddenly grew warm and it shot out to contact the rock's surface, and literally reduced the boulder into dust. Staring at her fist, Karin thought the warmth felt vaguely familiar.

Shocked, Yoruichi's eyes widened. Recovering quickly, she suddenly grinned and clapped Karin on the shoulder. "See? You can do it if you try!"

…

The missing people cases had ballooned, and there were more and more bodies turning up everywhere, some unmarked, others mauled. The newspaper lay on the table, and Kurosaki Isshin stared at it blankly, looking but not seeing. He knew a lot more than he let on; the sudden influx of guests staying over at there house coupled with Karin and her mysterious 'kidnapping' and her sudden rise in -

"Oi, Oyaji!"

Ichigo's rough voice interrupted Isshin's thoughts. Isshin glared at his son, who was undoubtedly the cause, or one of them, of Karin's current situation. "What are you doing here? Don't you have university classes to attend?" he asked, annoyed.

Ignoring his father's question, Ichigo picked up the newspaper and waved it in front of Isshin's face. "What do you think of these disappearing cases?"

"Isn't that the work of a serial murderer? I've heard that the murder device was an as-of-yet undetectable poison..."

Ichigo pursued, "What about the people that turn up bloody?"

"That's just a victim of an escaped zoo animal. Zoo keepers these days." Isshin shook his head and ambled off towards the clinic before Ichigo could ask any more.

Ichigo had skipped his university classes that day to keep a closer watch on his younger sisters. At school, there was Toushirou to watch over them, but to be safe, Ichigo too would stay. After Yuzu had returned from school, he asked, "Oh, you're back. Is Karin at soccer practice?"

If she was, he was prepared to go and haul her back; he would take no chances with his younger sisters.

Shaking her head, Yuzu said, "There isn't any soccer practice today. It's Friday, remember? She said she had some business at the candy shop."

'_Urahara's shop…'_ Slowly, Ichigo nodded. Urahara and Yoruichi-san would be there to protect her. Satisfied that both his sisters were safe, he went upstairs to his room where the other shinigami were. As he shut the door, he noticed a tense silence in the air. After the sudden attack that morning, the shinigami were all on their guards.

Abruptly, Toushirou broke the silence, "Where's Karin?" he asked Ichigo.

"At Urahara-san's. She's safe there with Yoruichi-san and Urahara-san, otherwise I would have gone after her." Ichigo replied. "And you asked me to find out what the masses are thinking about the hollowfication, right? The people are dismissing the cases of disappearing people turning up as corpses as serial murders, and the works of a _zoo _animal, but I don't know how long that will go on..."

The usually lively and carefree Rangiku had a frown on her face. "When are the reinforcements coming, Taichou?" Rangiku asked worriedly.

Toushirou answered, "Tomorrow, if they're on schedule. I've asked for Abarai, Hisagi, Madarame, and whoever else they recommend. But I'm not sure if they'll abide by my request; Soul Society might not afford to have three captains posted here."

"Three?" Ichigo exclaimed. "But there's only you, Toushirou."

Toushirou looked at him, surprised that Ichigo didn't know such important information about Soul Society. "Didn't you hear? There's only the 5th Division left without a captain now that Abarai and Hisagi both got promoted to captain status. Abarai to the 3rd Division, and Hisagi to 9th."

"Did they now?" Ichigo cast an annoyed glance towards Rukia, who had been relaying the latest happenings in Soul Society to him by phone since four years ago when the winter war took place. "I guess I'm not up to speed as I had previously thought."

Flustered at the thought that she had left out some information by mistake, Rukia defended, "Baka! I told you! You just didn't listen properly!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Y-yeah!"

The other two shinigami just left them to bicker. Turning to her captain, Rangiku asked him, "What was it about that second Espada coming back to take somebody? Did he mean Karin-chan?"

Expression immediately hardening at the mention of the second Espada, Toushirou growled, "It seems like they were here to take her back to Hueco Mundo."

"So Karin-chan's a target?"

Toushirou grimly nodded. "They must be after her because she's the only 'experiment' that succeeded. It's with the same objective as a hundred years ago."

"So you're saying that Aizen is behind the incidents." Rangiku summarized with a pained look on her face. Toushirou recognized the expression. _'She had that look when Ichimaru died.' _he thought with regret. He wondered what expression his face took on when he recalled his childhood friend.

"There's no denying that Aizen is behind this…" he trailed off, looking far off into the distance, his mind swimming in unpleasant thoughts.

…

Karin stared down at her knuckles, bleeding in protest to the abuse of being slammed repeatedly into boulders. Try as she might, she just couldn't replicate the fluke from before. Once again, she tried smashing her right fist into the boulder in front of her, but it only aggravated the wound. Frustrated, she tried punching with her left hand. When the left hand started to bleed as well, she gave up and collapsed spread eagle on the ground. Heaving a sigh, she stared up at the fake blue sky, which gave the illusion that it was midday.

The thoughts that Karin had held at bay during her training flooded back. She tried to sort them out in vain. Hiko had been acting strange after she had returned; the camaraderie that they'd shared had changed into something else, and in her opinion, it wasn't for the better. More like awkward. And she didn't feel as happy as before when she saw him. Her feelings were leaning more and more towards -

Her thoughts were broken when Yoruichi's voice interrupted, "Oi, giving up already? You're not as persistent as I initially thought."

As Yoruichi had intended, Karin reacted spectacularly to the implied challenge by immediately jumping to her feet and shouting indignantly, "Who said I'm giving up? I'll try again!"

She stalked over to a nearby boulder. Calming herself and cutting off all her thoughts, she closed her eyes and recalled the peculiar feeling from before. Gathering her spiritual energy into her hand once again, Karin once again felt the familiar warmth and curled her hand into a fist, and shot her fist forward. The boulder shattered into pieces. Alerted by the sound and the lack of stone surface in front of her fist, Karin opened her eyes and surveyed the results. She smiled in excitement and looked down at her fist.

"I did it!" Turning to Yoruichi, she repeated, "Did you see that, Yoruichi-sensei? I did it!"

Suppressing a grin, Yoruichi said in a stern voice, "You can celebrate once you can do it at will, or better yet, without even thinking."

Excitement doused, Karin sighed and went back to training.

…

The Segundo Espada knelt before his master.

"Why have you come back empty handed, Caballero?" A smooth voice spoke.

Caballero explained. "There were too many shinigami, master."

Aizen raised an eyebrow. "Too many for you? I guess you must have been outnumbered by several captain class shinigami, then."

"Indeed. Forgive me, sir."

"It's quite alright. I never expected you to bring her back in the first place. I only sent you there to observe her progress." Surveying the subservient figure before him, Aizen continued, "How fares she?"

At this, Caballero raised his head. "Her spiritual powers are undeveloped so far, but she will ripen well."

Aizen's lips curled upwards into a smile. "Well, then, all in due time. Let us wait a while longer before we pick the fruit. You _did_ manage to gain skin-to-skin contact with her? "

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

Aizen's smile turned triumphant. "Then while we wait, you can execute that excellent idea of yours. You'll need the Primero Espada for that, yes? "

…

Hours later, panting, Karin swung her shoulder round, stretching herself out after the bout of exercise. She winced at the cracking noise emitted from her own arm.

"Give up?"

Karin grinned at Yoruichi, who stood in front of her. "Give up? What's that? That isn't in my dictionary. I'm just getting started."

"Stop for today; don't wear yourself out too much. You'll be training tomorrow and it's already dark out."

Karin hadn't realized how much time had passed. "Really? I couldn't tell because of the fake sky."

"Well, now you know. You should get some sleep. And by the way, the young captain from earlier today is waiting outside for you." Yoruichi's grin could have put the Cheshire cat's to shame. "You've bagged a nice one, eh?"

Flushing, Karin said, "I don't know what you're talking about," and leapt up the square hole without further ado.

Arms crossed, Yoruichi watched her leap out of sight. It was an incredible height, she thought. It was understandable that one could jump down that distance, but to jump up was an entirely different matter. Most shinigami would have trouble with it. In fact, she was still marveling at the lightening speed at which Karin had picked up the skill of focusing her spiritual energy to one section of her body; in the case of jumping, the foci lay in her feet. It took years, even decades, for some of the Onmitsu corps to attain those skills, yet the Kurosaki girl had attained it in one day.

Surveying the ground before her, Yoruichi sighed. _'Kisuke… what sort of monster have you picked up?'_

And there was reason enough to make Yoruichi of the great Shihouin clan to sigh. Even if Karin had chosen to stay, there wasn't much for her fists to practice crushing; Karin had ground every last boulder in the underground training ground into dust.

…

Up above, Karin came face to face with blue-green pupils. Toushirou was staring at her rather unnervingly through half-lidded eyes. Scrambling out of the hole and scooting back, Karin asked cautiously, "What brings you here?"

"Nothing." Though from his face, Karin could tell that was obviously not the case. Eying her suspiciously, he asked, "What were you doing down there?" Though seeing her state of perspiration, Toushirou could hazard a pretty good guess.

Karin harrumphed and turned away from Toushirou's gaze. She crossed her arms to hide her injured knuckles, hiding a wince when cloth rubbed against the raw wounds. "Why should I tell you?"

A vein popped out of Toushirou's head. "Why you-!" Taking deep breaths, Toushirou forced himself to calm down. He likewise turned away from Karin and muttered, "How stupid of me to worry about you…"

Hearing this, Karin suddenly felt angry. "Who asked you to worry about me anyways?" Her anger was unreasonable, she knew.

Suddenly, before she knew it, Toushirou's hand had clasped around her wrist, and he had pinned her against the wall. Shell-shocked, Karin stared at him with wide eyes. "Wh-what are you doing?" Karin asked shakily.

He leaned towards her. Karin would have backed up if the wall hadn't already been pressing against her back. She could feel his breath on her cheek; it smelled like mint and grass, she thought abstractly, as she squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head as his face moved closer. When she didn't feel anything, she cautiously opened one eye. When she saw Toushirou peering at one bloodied hand, both of her eyes popped open.

"See, I knew it. You hurt yourself."

Embarrassed, she bowed her head. What had she been expecting?

Shifting his angry blue-green eyes from Karin's hand to her face, Toushirou said icily, "_That's_ why I'm worried about you."

The door slid open. Both of them turned at the noise, surprised. Ururu stood there. After staring at the two for a moment (and no doubt noting the postures that they were in: him pushing her up against the wall while keeping her wrist pinned above her head), she silently turned around and said in a monotone voice, "Excuse me for interrupting."

Worried that she would misunderstand, Karin reached out a hand and cried out, "Ururu, wait - !"

But the door snapped shut, and afterward, she sagged and gave up.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Toushirou picked up her other hand and examined it as well. He sighed and sat her down on the tatami mat floor, saying, "I'm not as adept with healing Kidou spells as the captain of the Fourth Division, but I can heal this."

Before Karin could ask what the Fourth Division had to do with healing, Toushirou placed a glowing hand on her forehead and put her to sleep with a kidou spell.

…

The next morning, Karin discovered her hands were completely healed and that Toushirou had already left, presumably to meet up with Ichigo and the others. She sat up muttering, "Damn bastard put me to sleep..."

After splashing some water on her face, Karin returned to the underground training room. Once she jumped down, she saw Yoruichi was already there waiting for her, among something like a hundred boulders to replace the ones Karin crushed yesterday. Jaw dropping open, Karin wondered where and how Yoruichi had replaced all the boulders.

Yoruichi announced, "Today's training will focus on speed. Hakuda, that is, hand-to-hand combat, is based on strength and hohou, which means movement. And speed is key to movement. We worked partially on strength yesterday, so today you will work on speed with me."

Making a face, Karin asked, "You said I already worked on strength, so why did you haul more boulders here?"

Yoruichi grinned in a rather feral manner. "I said that you worked _partially_ on strength yesterday. Not completely." At Karin's look of dawning understanding, Yoruichi's grin turned positively wolfish. "You couldn't have possibly thought that using your fists were the _only _way you could smash boulders, did you?"

At that question, Karin immediately felt grumpy. She _had_ in fact, assumed it was the only way, though she should have known better. It was mostly her kicks that had shattered hollows masks, after all.

Yoruichi went on, "But I'll teach you speed first. Now, what I'm going to show you is a movement technique, which is called…" she suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Karin. "Shunpo."

Instinctively, Karin flung herself around, raising up a fair amount of dust in the process. "This… is what the second Espada dude called Sonido, isn't it?" she asked, confused.

Raising her eyebrows, Yoruichi looked surprised at Karin's knowledge of this. "Oh? You know that already? Well, Sonido is more impulsive than shunpo, but for all intents and purposes it's the arrancar equivalent of shunpo, yes."

"Whatever it's called, I know how to do it already." Not noticing Yoruichi's stunned look, Karin paused for a second before her face darkened and she added reluctantly, "But it wasn't enough to shake off that Caballero guy, though."

Yoruichi narrowed her eyes while she observed Karin. _'She even knows how to do shunpo… eh?'_ "Well, if you ran around being chased by the second Espada, then it should be relatively easy to practice catching up to me." Then she snickered, as if enjoying a private joke.

Though at first, Karin was didn't know what Yoruichi meant by that small laugh, but she soon found out just how fast Yoruichi was. It was like tag with Caballero all over again, but the speed gap was even wider; Karin was breathing raggedly while Yoruichi didn't have a hair out of place. Even the endurance that Karin had built up playing soccer didn't prepare her for this. "Why are… you so damn fast?" Almost immediately, Karin regretted trying to speak while running. She felt like throwing up.

Laughing, Yoruichi said, "The title of 'Shunshin no Yoruichi' would cry if I got outrun by the likes of you, who are practically a newborn in the ways of shinigami." _'If that's what you truly are.'_She silently added. She then disappeared again, at least to Karin's eyes.

To the human eye, Yoruichi just seemed to be able to teleport large distances in a moment. But compared with Yoruichi, Karin took a longer period of time to teleport shorter distances. After fifteen minutes of flash stepping straight, Karin was panting like a dog, trying to keep up with Yoruichi's speed. Karin gasped, "Can… we…" she coughed, "get… some…" she struggled to draw in a breath, "rest?"

Appearing on the top of a boulder, Yoruichi grinned complacently. "Tired already?"

Too exhausted to see any point in denying it, Karin wordlessly nodded her head.

"Too bad. Hold on for five more minutes." Yoruichi said (in Karin's opinion) heartlessly, as she disappeared again.

Karin grit her teeth and tried to continue for another three minutes, but at that point, she was just jogging, and weakly at that. Her lungs just couldn't take any more. Then, as if her body was telling her to stop torturing it, her legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground.

Yoruichi landed lightly in front of Karin and grinned. "That was hard work, no?

By this point, Karin couldn't even muster the strength to nod her head.

Yoruichi screwed the cap off of a bottle and held it out for her to take.

"Here, drink this. You'll feel better."

Only then did Karin realize how thirsty she was. With shaking hands, she accepted the bottle and drank from it, ignoring the excess water dribbling from her mouth. As she downed the whole bottle of water Karin noticed something strange about her body; it felt lighter. As if her energy was getting restored.

Yoruichi smiled. "That's water that has physical healing properties, and it's good for when you're hurt or exhausted."

When she had sufficiently recovered, Karin stood up, signaling that she was ready for another round of tag. Yoruichi beckoned to her with a finger, as if to say, 'Bring it on!' then disappeared with a flash, with Karin following nanoseconds afterwards.

...

A.N: Phew, got that over with. Onto the next chapter! Next up: reinforcements are coming!


	10. Reinforcements

**Chapter 10: Reinforcements**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 10**

Reinforcements

…

Abarai Renji was lounging on a hill, absently chewing on the end of the remains of a fish skeleton between his teeth (the head was long gone), watching the tail move up and down. He was a captain now, but unlike the other captains, he had very little work to do as his lieutenant, Kira Izuru, took care of most of the paperwork. He smirked as he thought that the same couldn't be said for a certain 10th Division captain; in fact, it was the other way around, with Rangiku-san leaving all the paperwork for her captain. Since Rangiku-san often invited him to go drinking with her, he dropped by the 10th Division office to glimpse Hitsugaya taichou drowning in paperwork equally often.

Now that Renji thought of it, he hadn't seen the little silver haired boy around lately (not that he was so puny any more). Then he remembered that Hitsugaya taichou had left for the real world with his lieutenant and Rukia. With both the Captain and Lieutenant of the 10th Division away at the human world, the 3rd seat was probably slaving away at paperwork. He snickered at the thought; paperwork was one headache he didn't have to deal with.

The latest news in the Seireitei was that the candidate for the 5th Division captain seat had backed off, because he had yet to acquire his bankai. The 3rd seat had moved up to the seat of lieutenant as the new graduates from the shinigami academy had poured in, but aside from that, the 5th Division was as leaderless as ever. He racked his mind for people who had achieved their bankai, but his mind drew a blank - aside from Madarame Ikkaku, who had point blank turned down Renji's plea to take over a division four years ago.

Renji dismissed these thoughts. As he stood up and stretched, ready to get back to work, or rather lack thereof, a messenger approached him with a report.

"Abarai taichou, there are orders to attend the captains' meeting."

After giving a grunt of assent, Renji waved the messenger off. Slowly he meandered over to the 1st Division headquarters, where all the captains' meetings were held.

Upon arrival, Renji saw that he was the last captain to get there. Noting the tense atmosphere, he squared his shoulders and strode over to his place in the two lines, with Yamamoto sou-taichou at the head. You would never imagine that the Commander was actually incredibly muscled beneath that wrinkled exterior and the baggy hakama he wore, Renji thought. Most of the shinigami who hadn't seen him personally participate in battle probably thought that Yamamoto sou-taichou was hunch-backed with age, since he always used that staff of his to walk along.

The aforementioned Commander announced in his gravelly voice, "All of you present must have heard of the current situation in Karakura town." He paused to look sternly around with his slitted eyes at all of the captains, save for the absent Toushirou and the as of yet to be replaced 5th Division Captain. "I called you all here because Hitsugaya taichou requested for reinforcements. He originally requested for Abarai taichou and Hisagi taichou and 11th Division's 3rd seat Ikkaku…"

Thinking of Rukia and Ichigo, Renji said immediately agreed to volunteer himself. "I am free."

Yamamoto sou-taichou nodded his head once in approval. His eyes flickered to Shuuhei, the 9th Division captain, next. Shuuhei bowed. As you command, Sou-taichou."

Scanning the rows of captains to his right and left, Yamamoto asked, "Anyone else?"

Once again, Renji spoke up. "Umm, can Kira come as well?" He had felt that things had been uncomfortable between him and Izuru ever since he'd taken over the 3rd Division. He couldn't blame Kira; they were year mates after all, and he wouldn't like working under one of his year mates, either. Their captain and lieutenant relationship just couldn't be like Hitsugaya taichou's and Rangiku-san's. The trip to the human world was a chance for the two to work out the tension. Renji also suspected that Izuru was still mourning the loss of his former captain, Ichimaru Gin, acutely.

The commander raised his shaggy eyebrows. "Your lieutenant? Very well. Any other volunteers?"

When no other captains stepped forward, the Commander turned Renji and Shuuhei, "I will leave you both in charge of the formation of the team to be dispatched to the human world. Dismissed."

As each of the captains filed out one by one, Renji approached his former senpai from the shinigami academy. "Hisagi senpai." He held out his hand, and Shuuhei clasped it strongly. While they were walking, Renji said, "I've already got a person in mind, if you don't mind."

Reading Shuuhei's curious expression, Renji elaborated, "It's Ikkaku-san, like the sou-taichou mentioned was originally supposed to be on the team. Do you want come along?"

The two wound up in front of the 11th Division barracks. Renji called, "Oi~ Ikkaku-san!"

A bald guy (god forbid you point it out to him) stuck his shiny head out of a sliding door. "Oh, if it isn't the Sanbantai taichou* gracing us with his presence." Grinning cheekily when Renji made a face at the title, Ikkaku nodded in a more polite manner towards Shuuhei next. "And Hisagi taichou as well."

***Sanbantai taichou = Third-division Captain**

Renji rolled his eyes as he sat down. "How many times do I have to tell you drop the formalities, no matter how sarcastic they are?"

Scooting through the open screen door, Ikkaku asked, "Anyways, what're you doing here?"

Growing serious, Renji explained, "We're headed towards the human world and the sou-taichou commanded us to putting a team together." The unspoken question, whether Ikkaku would join or not, hung in the air.

Ikkaku groaned, "Again?" Four years back, Renji had recruited him as a member of the reconnaissance team dispatched to the human world to warn Ichigo and back him up against the arrancar, a new threat at the time. Renji and Shuuhei's expectant faces shined towards him. It was either stay safe and sound in Seireitei and leave his swordsmanship skills to rot, or go to the human world and get a chance to fight. Deciding that the latter was more desirable (which didn't take much time, given the nature of the 11th squad, renown for its love of fighting), Ikkaku agreed. "Alright, alright… I'll go." He turned around and shouted, "Oi, Yumichikaaa~!"

A man with a bobcut poked his head out of the same room that Ikkaku had come out of. "You're going to the human world and wanted to know if I wanted to come along?" Yumichika guessed accurately, as he had been eavesdropping from the beginning. His face broke out into a sunny smile, and he said, "Of course I do!"

Dusting off his hakama, Renji stood up and said, "Well, now I've got to head back to prepare, so let's meet over at the Senkaimon at sunset."

Splitting up with Shuuhei, who said he had some last minute stuff to write up for the magazine he was in charge of publishing (Seireitei Communication Monthly), Renji then headed towards his own division office.

Izuru was working at a desk when his captain entered the room. Once he noticed Renji had returned he greeted him. "Oh, welcome back. How was the meeting?"

Renji scratched his head bemusedly. "I swear, you know more about what's going on in Seireitei than I do." He sat down behind his desk. "How did you know we had a meeting?"

Shrugging, Izuru replied, "Word gets around. And I knew that you wouldn't stay out that long on the hill."

Renji briefly considered how best to word his request tactfully, but gave up soon enough, considering it too much effort. Subtlety had never been his forte anyways. "What d'ya say to coming to the human world with me?"

Izuru was surprised to say the least. "What for?"

"Reinforcement team." was the succinct answer.

"Sure. Why not?"

Despite what Renji thought, Izuru did not feel resentment towards Renji at all. He had not been able to achieve bankai yet and did not begrudge Renji of the 3rd Division captain's rank. Besides, he had never been one to begrudge his friends for anything.

When the sun set, the five shinigami met at the Senkaimon, each accompanied by hell moths. Glancing briefly at each other, they stepped through the screen doors.

…

Down in the basement of Urahara's shop, Karin was having a much more of an easier time honing her skill of breaking rocks with her legs and feet than she had with her fists. She had gotten it on the first try, which was more than she could say the same training for her fists. She didn't have a single bruise on her legs. Whether she round housed, drop kicked, or swept her leg around, the boulder on the receiving end of her choice attack flew into pieces. It was almost too easy.

Yoruichi sat atop a boulder that hadn't been broken yet and observed her. After a while, Yoruichi clapped her hands. "Okay, today we stop here."

Karin looked up, surprised. "Already?"

Surprised, Yoruichi glanced down at her from her high vantage point. "Unless you want to continue…?"

'_It's what Ichi-nii would say.'_ Karin thought firmly as she replied, "Yes. I do."

Smiling at her student's enthusiasm, Yoruichi stood up and gracefully jumped down from the boulder. "Then we'll get started on hand-to-hand combat now, shall we?"

…

"You sure took your sweet time getting here."

"We were only informed of the need for reinforcements today afternoon."

Toushirou, though a good 15 centimeters (roughly 6") shorter than Renji, still managed to make the older shinigami quail under his glare.

"That's no excuse to arrive in the dead of the night." Toushirou sighed and raked a hand through his silver hair. "Well, now that you're here, might as well give you a briefing on the status of Karakura."

Ichigo spoke up in a deadpan voice. "Sorry to interrupt… but… do we _have_ to carry this discussion in my room?"

His statement was punctuated by silence. He had a point. Including Ichigo, there were nine people crammed into Ichigo's small room. Rangiku took up the lion's share of Ichigo's bed while Rukia and Ichigo himself were perched on the edges; Toushirou was leaning against the desk; all the other male shinigami sat on the floor. All in all, the room was quite cramped. They could move out to the Kurosakis' living room, but that would take some explaining, as the reinforcement squad of five had sneaked in through the window, much to Ichigo's displeasure.

"Then," Toushirou suggested icily, "shall we go to Urahara's?"

Not noticing the sarcastic tone threaded through Toushirou's voice, there were murmurs of approval, and the group members each leapt out of Ichigo's window one after another and landed soundlessly on the ground. Soon enough, only Rangiku and Toushirou were remaining. Sighing heavily, Toushirou ran a hand through his hair again. Having noted her captain's agitation, Rangiku asked him once they were alone, "What's wrong, Taichou?"

Toushirou shook his head, then stopped himself and admitted, "I don't trust Urahara."

"Are you sure your distrust isn't related to a certain black haired girl?" Rangiku suggested in a teasing voice. At this suggestion, Toushirou rolled his eyes. But that gesture took rather a lot of effort, because what she said struck a nerve; it _did _have to do with Karin. _'Just not in the way Matsumoto thinks.'_ Toushirou thought.

He hastily changed the subject. "We should get going, since they took my suggestion to heart." With that, he jumped out of the window. Rangiku stood there for a moment, staring after her captain and wondering how she would get him to admit his feelings. Then, realizing that she would be the last to arrive to Urahara's shop, Rangiku quickly leapt out the window as well.

Urahara felt the numerous spiritual presences approach before they actually arrived so he had time to prepare his trademark props. Upon their arrival, he was already standing outside of his shop wearing his hat, cape and sandals, accessorized with a cane and fan.

"Welcome - "

Without waiting for Urahara's invitation, most of the shinigami stampeded into Urahara's shop. Toushirou walked by and muttered to Urahara, "Don't think I'm not onto you…" Urahara smiled rather indulgently at this.

Renji noticed this exchange between the two, and wondered what it was about. Leaning close to Ichigo who had also overheard and also looked confused, Renji asked in a whisper, "What's all that about?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

…

Karin and Yoruichi fought well into the night and even until dawn, even though the fake sky ceiling showed nothing of the time.

Though at first, Karin was clumsy and rather slow at coordinating the physical attack and the spiritual energy together, after a few hours facing Yoruichi (whom she highly suspected was going really easy on her) she was starting to get the hang of it. Though she still couldn't quite keep up with her teacher, Karin was speeding up with her attacks nonetheless. Meanwhile, Yoruichi was slowly driving up the pace and strength behind her attacks to match Karin.

Suddenly, they felt masses of spiritual pressure coming from above. Though they didn't pause in their sparring, both were acutely aware of the presences above them; but Karin inevitably became distracted. She yelped when Yoruichi landed a blow. "You're getting distracted! If you had been fighting an arrancar you'd be dead by now!" shouted the older woman.

Furiously, Karin turned her attention back to blocking Yoruichi's attacks. The two continued to exchange barehanded attacks, but Karin thought they might as well have been carrying weapons with the weight, the shock, and the numbness that followed each of Yoruichi's attacks. Karin was just about to surrender when she heard her older brother comment, "So this is what you've been up to?"

At Ichigo's voice, Karin stopped what she was doing and her head snapped around and therefore didn't see Yoruichi's fist aiming straight towards her unguarded head.

Ichigo cried out to his sister, "Watch ou - "

Too late, the blow landed and blasted Karin back into a boulder, which shattered upon the force and speed of the contact. All of this happened in a single second.

Yoruichi straightened in dismay, because she had expected her student to block that kind of strike. She threw a glare at Ichigo, who had run over to Karin's prone form. "Imbecile! You distracted her!" she rebuked.

Indignant but still worried for his sister, Ichigo defended, "What were you doing, hitting her with that much force in the first place?"

"That's because she was parrying attacks of the same strength until you came along!" Yoruichi retorted.

Clucking her tongue, Yoruichi strode over to the motionless Karin and extricated her from the remains of the boulder. Yoruichi hoisted her over her shoulder in fireman's hold, much in the same fashion as she had done for Ichigo four years back in Soul Society. As she passed Urahara, she shot him a glance as if to say _'what the hell did you bring him down here for?'_

She also passed several shinigami who had leapt down into the training space after Ichigo.

"She's just unconscious." She reassured Toushirou, who crossed his arms and muttered something about not caring in the first place.

The shinigami reinforcments looked curiously at the girl draped over Yoruichi's shoulder as Yoruichi leapt up through the hatch. Rukia explained to them, "She's Karin, Ichigo's younger sister. Well, one of two anyways."

"Well, unlike Ichigo, she is aesthetically pleasing enough." Ichigo glared at Yumichika. "Che."

Pretending not to hear, Yumichika continued, "Not as beautiful as me, though."

"She was one of the first to go under hollowfication." said Rangiku, bringing the temporarily derailed discussion back on track.

The other shinigami were surprised at this declaration. "Then why is she still in human form?" Shuuhei asked in disbelief.

"Because she defeated her inner hollow." Toushirou answered shortly. Then he picked back up the briefing that he had cut short in favor of leaving Ichigo's room.

"Listen up," he sharply commanded, and the other shinigami obediently sat themselves down on the ground or on various boulders. "The cases of hollowfication, no doubt you've heard, have been caused by needles infected with spirit particles that trigger the hollowfication process. Every time we sense the perpetrator, it's too late and he's already gone, leaving behind a target transformed into a hollow. I need you guys," here he nodded towards the reinforcement squad, "to help us to capture this culprit."

Glancing at Ichigo, Toushirou continued, "The day before yesterday, there were arrancar sent to capture Karin." The shinigami traded uneasy looks. "I think it's because Karin is the only one that has successfully overcome the hollowfication."

The shinigami all began talking at once.

"That means – "

"- the one behind all of this is…"

"Most probably Aizen." Toushirou finished. "The choice of infecting Kurosaki's younger sister and retrieval method is what Aizen would do."

Shuuhei hissed out a breath. "Aizen…" He was no doubt remembering his predecessor and former captain, Tousen Kaname.

The shinigami sat there in silence, the greater part of them dwelling on the fateful day that they had found out Aizen had betrayed the Gotei 13...

…

After a very painful dream where all the boulders she had ever smashed had come back to take their revenge on her, Karin's eyes fluttered open. Groggily, she felt a dull ache in her back. She was brought up to sudden alert wakefulness when the dull ache turned into a sharp pain. Wincing, she sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings. Of course the pain was real... in dreams you couldn't feel anything. She saw Yoruichi staring at her. Groaning, Karin asked, "What happened? One minute I was looking at Ichi-nii... then..."

"First lesson: _Never _take your focus off of the enemy." Yoruichi emphasized. "Even if your brother is talking to you. Got that?" Then she carefully turned Karin around and placed her cool hands on Karin's sore back. Wearily, Karin nodded in understanding to Yoruichi's question, feeling the soothing Kidou energy healing her. She still didn't know what had happened after she had turned towards her brother, but she didn't ask.

Soon, Karin's aching back felt as good as new, and she stood up and stretched out her body.

When the two went back down to the training grounds, Karin was surprised to see several unfamiliar faces. Sweeping her gaze over the five new faces, she discovered that she faintly recognized their spiritual presences, except for the one with three vertical scars over his eye.

"I see five new people. Are you guys all shinigami wearing gigai?"

The tallest one with red hair and weird tattoos over his eyebrows and neck answered, "Yeah. And I hear you're Ichigo's younger sister."

Putting her hands on her hips, Karin corrected, "My name isn't Ichigo's-Younger-Sister. It's Karin." She looked them all over again before plopping down on the ground. "What're your names, anyways?"

The bald guy pointed to himself and declared, "Madarame Ikkaku. 3rd seat in the 11th Division. I live to fight." He jabbed a thumb over to the rather pretty looking guy next to him. "This one, the 5th seat, lives to preen himself." The pretty boy swatted Baldie's thumb away and fluttering his eyelashes, said, "I'm Yumichika Ayasegawa."

The red haired guy with tattoos said, "I'm Abarai Renji. Captian of the 3rd Division." The gloomy looking blonde guy introduced himself next. "I am his lieutenant, Kira Izuru. Pleased to meet you, Karin-san."

Karin waved aside the honorific. The last one remaining was the guy with the scars. "Hisagi Shuuhei here. Captain of the 9th Division."

"Enough with the introductions." Everyone turned to Ikkaku, who had spoken. "It's time to find the bastard behind these hollowfication cases!" he roared.

Raising an eyebrow, Toushirou said in a flat voice, "And exactly _how_ are we going to find the perpetrator, pray tell?"

Freezing for a moment, Ikkaku paused and admitted, "I don't know."

Everybody sat in silence, pondering the solution.

Eventually, someone suggested, "How about I intentionally get captured by the arrancar?"

...

AN: sorry for the short chapter. ._.


	11. Plans and Manipulations

**Chapter 11: Plans and Manipulations**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 11**

Plans and Manipulations

…

"How about I intentionally get captured by the arrancar?"

Everybody turned to look at Karin, who had uttered this 'innocent' statement. There was a shocked pause.

"No! Absolutely not!" Toushirou vehemently objected.

This time it was Karin's turn to be taken aback and she defended herself, "Chill out, I was only suggesting –"

"It's not a viable suggestion!" Toushirou snapped.

"But it sounds like a good –" Renji started, but Ichigo cut him off sharply, giving the red haired shinigami a warning look. "I agree with Toushirou. It's too dangerous, Karin."

Her brother's statement was the last straw. Karin leapt to her feet and shouted at him, "How long are you going to keep protecting me?" Ichigo blanched.

"I'm only trying to –"

Karin shook her head and cut him off. "Look, I know you asked Toushirou to watch over me while I'm at school." She pounded her chest with a hand to emphasize her words. "But I'm fully capable of defending myself! Ask Yoruichi-sensei!"

Several sets of eyes turned towards Yoruichi, who had been leaning against a boulder and watching the heated argument coolly. Pushing off of the boulder, Yoruichi planted her feet into a firm stance and crossed her arms; it was the posture of a commanding officer she took, back when she had been the captain of the 2nd Division. She started, "Well, you're currently at an anti-shinigami level, but nowhere near a level where you can face off with the upper eschelons of the arrancar hierarchy."

Karin blinked, unable to believe that her teacher could betray her in such a frank, matter-of-fact way. She opened her mouth to argue, but Toushirou said, "You heard her, Karin."

Yoruichi, however, smoothly interrupted, "But that's not to say she won't reach that level soon."

Karin looked at Yoruichi with renewed hope, when she heard a sound of muffled fury. Startled, she turned to see that Toushirou too, had leapt to his feet to face Urahara. "So _this_ is what you've been planning? Grooming Karin for bait?" he accused, his temper getting the better of him.

Urahara, who had been rather quiet up until then, snapped open his fan and said innocently, "Whatever could you mean? You just heard Karin-san suggest the idea herself."

"You planted that idea into her head!" Toushirou hissed.

Karin wheeled on Toushirou furiously, "Don't you start on Urahara-san! Even if he were to manipulate me," a big sweatdrop appeared on Urahara's head at this ("Uhh… Karin-san…?"), "it's none of your business!"

Fuming, Karin stalked off towards Yoruichi, and dragged her off to spar some more. All of the other shinigami watched this exchange with astonishment. Ichigo, for one, wasn't quite as surprised as the others were; he had already known Karin's temperament and stubborn nature, but he was still taken aback by how she insisted on basically going to the frontlines of battle. Renji whistled, impressed, and remarked to Ichigo quietly, "Ichigo, your younger sister is feisty."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Don't I know it." Observing Toushirou's seething profile, he said, "I guess this explains why Toushirou was so tense when we walked into Urahara-san's shop."

The shinigami peeked over a boulder to watch Karin sparring off against Yoruichi, and were rather impressed by what they saw. Karin's pummeling attacks, which they suspected was filled with anger from the argument that had just taken place, were forcing the Goddess of Flash to take Karin even more seriously than before.

Yoruichi, finding that she had vastly underestimated her student, upped the ante by noticeably increasing her speed. Karin, in turn, rose to match the speed, and vented her anger by putting more force behind her attacks.

Renji commented, "Hou~ she's pretty good."

Overhearing Renji, Ikkaku chimed in, "I like a woman that's feisty and good at fighting." They both sniggered. Seeing Ichigo's dangerous face expression, they both stopped laughing immediately and Ikkaku hastily supplied, "Just joking, joking." Little did Ikkaku realize that Toushirou too, had overheard and was shooting him a similar look.

Shuuhei, who was leaning on a boulder next to Rangiku (by no coincidence), asked her in a casual voice, "Was she this strong before, or did she get this powerful after the hollowfication?"

Shrugging, Rangiku replied, "I think the hollowfication pulled out her inner potential." But remembering the soccer captain's memories, she added, "But it seemed like she was already killing hollows before all this mess."

Yoruichi, whose temples were now gleaming with the tiniest bit of sweat, called out for a stop. Karin, who was currently raining sweat, gratefully obeyed. She had long since worked off her temper, and had only been running on vengeful steam anyways. Wiping off her sweat, she chatted uncharacteristically a lot with Rukia and Rangiku while pointedly ignoring Ichigo and Toushirou.

Karin went back home with her older brother that night with Rukia, Rangiku, and Toushirou trooping behind them; Renji had stayed at Urahara's, and the four others gone off to find other lodgings, Ikkaku mentioning to Yumichika something about Asano Keigo's place.

Entering her room on the first floor, Karin found Yuzu fast asleep. Karin approached Yuzu quietly and stared down at her with guilt, remembering the time that they were attacked by the arrancar. All because of her unnatural powers.

Standing beside her twin's bed, Karin whispered, "I'll protect you this time, Yuzu. I promise not to drag you into this."

She didn't notice Toushirou standing outside the window.

…

The next day, Karin slept in late, on account of her coming back at 3:00 am in the morning and having worked herself to the bone. Given, it was a Sunday, so it was okay.

"Breakfast is almost ready, Karin-chan!"

When Yuzu didn't hear the usual sounds of Karin scurrying around to put on her clothes, she was confused. Even on weekends, Karin never woke up so late that she missed her morning run, but it was already far past her usual time.

Unable to leave the kitchen for fear of burning the bacon, Yuzu asked Toushirou, who was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table, "Toushirou-kun," (his eyebrow twitched) "could you do me a favor and wake Karin-chan?"

Toushirou had been scanning the news to ascertain whether the humans were becoming aware of what was happening in Karakura, but so far all was quiet. Reluctantly putting the newspaper down, he complied with Yuzu's request. As he opened the door to Karin and Yuzu's shared room, he noted that while one half of the room was immaculate and neat, the other half was rather messy, plastered with posters of soccer teams and stars. He immediately assumed that the more unkempt side belonged to Karin, and sure enough, Karin lay on the bed on that side of the room.

He examined the sleeping girl. He still didn't know what about her attracted Hiko so much. Sure, her features were decent, but there was the unassailable fact that she was a violent tomboy. There were signs of it even while she slept; curled up on the bed in her boxers and overlarge t-shirt, her black hair tangled and the bed sheets all twisted as if she'd thrashed in her sleep. But he couldn't deny that she had a unique character – which could be described as beauty, even – about her, even when she was sleeping. Karin shifted in her sleep, and he blinked, recalling that Yuzu had sent him to wake her. Not to stare at her. He reached out with a hand to shake her awake when she murmured his name. "Tou… shirou…"

His hand stopped midway to her shoulder. "What, you were awake all this time?" He started to leave when she whimpered, "Don't… go… Where… leaving…"

He turned back to face her, and soon realized that she was still asleep. What was she dreaming about?

Though he hesitated for a moment, Toushirou caved and sat on the bed, assuring her in a whisper, "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Her hand found its way to his shirt and gripped tightly onto it. He reached out his hand again, this time not with the intention of rousing her, but instead to stroke her head, his hand feeling her tangled, yet somehow silky hair. Slowly, her whimpering faded.

Someone cleared his throat significantly. Startled, Toushirou looked up to see Karin's father, Kurosaki Isshin, standing in the doorway.

Surprised, Toushirou jumped up off the bed. Too late, he looked over at Karin; thankfully, she slept on, though she was still hanging onto his shirt. Gently prying Karin's fist off, Toushirou frantically wondered what excuses he could make for dawdling by her bed and watching over her like a stalker instead of waking her up. Before he could open his mouth to apologize, though he didn't know for what, Isshin raised up a palm to quiet him.

Isshin jerked his head towards the hall, indicating that they should speak outside, without risking waking up Karin. Toushirou was then, led by Isshin into the living room. Isshin gestured towards the couch, offering Toushirou a place to sit, as he sank into his own armchair.

No sooner than when he had sat down, Toushirou spilled out an apology. "Sorry, I don't know what – "

"I'm not going to interrogate you on your intentions towards my daughter." Isshin said with a glint of amusement in his eye. "Yet." He added as Toushirou spluttered in protest. "But I do need you to answer me this."

The glint in his eye disappeared and for the first time, Toushirou felt an immense power radiate from this man, whom he had always assumed – frankly speaking – to be a foolish old geezer. Unconsciously, he straightened to sit at attention as Isshin asked his question.

"Did Karin undergo hollowfication?"

Whatever question Toushirou was expecting, it wasn't that. The words came as a thorough shock to him. Faltering, Toushirou stuttered, "H-how do you – "

Isshin asked again, more firmly than before, "Did she or did she not?"

Toushirou bowed his head and was silent for a moment, before he quietly affirmed, "She did."

Isshin leaned back in his armchair and sighed heavily. "That's what I was afraid of. I felt her sudden increase in spiritual pressure, but that she was one of the victims…" He shook his head regretfully, and the silence returned, heavier than before. After a while, he spoke again. "You know, when Masaki was expecting, I prayed that the twins would be spared the burden of seeing spirits. But God didn't grant my wish and Karin turned out to be just as strong as Ichigo."

Tentatively, Toushirou asked, "So you knew about your oldest son? Being a shinigami, I mean?"

Sighing once again, Isshin nodded. Once again, silence settled upon the two, though Toushirou's mind whirred with questions. Finally, he voiced one of them.

"Excuse me for asking… But who exactly are you?"

Raising his eyebrows, Isshin replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "A father, of course."

Restraining himself from rolling his eyes with impatience, Toushirou elaborated, "I meant,_ what_ exactly are you – "

He was interrupted by Karin's stumbling sleepily into the living room. Yawning as if she was attempting to unhinge her jaw, she mumbled, "Whash you guys talkin abou'?"

Isshin promptly put on his 'silly dad' façade and jumped up towards Karin to hug her. "Karrriiin~ GWAHaugh – !"

On instinct, Karin's foot slammed into her father's face. Rubbing her eyes and yawning once more as if nothing had happened, she said to Toushirou, "Ignore ol' beardy here. Let's go eat breakfast… I'm starved." and left Isshin lying on the floor behind her.

In the kitchen, Yuzu had already finished setting out the bacon and eggs on the table. "Oh, you're up, Karin-chan! Since you don't like getting woken up by anyone other than me and you were taking so long, I was afraid that something had happened to Toushirou-kun."

So she had sent him to wake up Karin, _knowing_ there would be a possible, dangerous consequence? Shooting an incredulous look towards the seemingly sweeter of the twins, Toushirou rethought his judgment of her. _'Maybe she's more dangerous than I thought…'_

He shook his head at the Kurosaki family.

…

Later that day, Karin was making up for her missed morning run by kicking the soccer ball around the field.

There was a presence like an itch on the back of her mind. As soon as she had left the house and headed for the field, she had felt a familiar spiritual pressure tailing her, and was angry for it. _'Is he still convinced that he has to protect me?'_

At that thought, she moodily kicked the ball extra hard so that it bounced off the goal post right back at her. Stopping the ball's rotation, Karin called out in an irritated voice, "You can come out, you know."

With a rustle, Toushirou appeared from behind the bushes, his eyes staring straight at Karin. He was silently appraising her, she knew. She took the chance to examine his eyes. A mix of blue and green, and the effect was almost ethereal, but she wasn't enchanted in the least. On the contrary, instead of being mesmerized, she was angry. They kept up the staring contest, and after what felt like ages, he broke eye contact. Walking towards her, Toushirou asked, "I suppose you want to know why I've been following you?"

Rolling her eyes, Karin replied in a dead voice, "I already know the answer to that question. To 'protect me from danger,' right?"

She expected him to say "yes," or "that's right," but he stayed maddeningly silent, and merely continued to walk towards her. He stopped right in front of her. Abruptly, he kicked the ball out from under her foot. Caught off guard, Karin briefly lost her balance before she quickly righted herself and glared at Toushirou.

Toushirou opened his mouth to talk, and for a moment he was tempted to ask her, 'are you aware that your father knows everything?' but he swallowed it down. But his mouth was already open, so Karin was looking at him, obviously expecting him to say something. So he decided to lighten up the mood instead. It was uncharacteristic of him to do so, but Toushirou attempted it anyways. "Brooding doesn't suit you. I'd rather you return to being a violent tomboy." He joked.

Contrary to lightening the mood up, Karin reddened with ill-suppressed anger at his comment. "Oh? You think I'm a violent tomboy, do you? Well, join the club, that's what every kid at school thinks." Her feet moved to take back the ball. Before Karin could actually take possession of the ball however, Toushirou quickly maneuvered the ball away from her. Karin stamped in frustration, not caring that she was acting like a little kid.

"Give it back!" She shouted.

Toushirou replied with a faint smile on his face, "If you want it, you'll have to take it."

The words rang familiarly in Karin's head.

She realized that he was again saying what Hiko had already said to her. _'If you want it, you'll have to take it, brat.'_ Hiko's words echoed through her head. It felt like centuries ago when Hiko had said it, and it had literally been in another lifetime. But when Toushirou said it, his face contained a hint of mirth, vastly different from Hiko's outright resentment towards a girl joining the soccer team. The two were similar, yet so different.

Despite her anger a moment ago, Karin laughed and said, "You're on."

Karin successfully stole the ball, albeit after five minutes of running and trying to intercept Toushirou's dribbling. Afterwards, they played one on one. Even while they were breathless from running and using shunpo, they were laughing and having fun.

Finally, exhausted and tired, they collapsed in the grass beside each other. They lay on their backs in the grass, looking up at the sky that was just beginning to darken.

Trying to catch her breath, Karin panted, "Never knew… that you were… that good… at soccer."

Toushirou retorted in only a slightly less breathles voice, "The coach told you, didn't he?"

"…What?"

"That he had picked me to join the soccer team because of my skills?" With that said, Toushirou turned to his side and smirked.

Karin wanted to wipe off the smirk from his face, and was considering whether it was best to slap it off or punch it off when his eyes met hers. Her breath caught, and it didn't seem to be the results of the physical exercise she had done. Almost on impulse, she rolled over and pecked Toushirou right on his lips. Time seemed to freeze. The second the kiss lasted seemed to stretch on forever. Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Karin's eyes widened and she sat up, hand on her lips. Meanwhile, Toushirou stared at her, dumbfounded.

Standing up, Karin apologized in a stammer, unable to look him in the eyes. "I- I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

But when she made to leave, she felt a hand fasten around her wrist and pull her down. She tumbled down onto Toushirou's lap, and when she looked up, she realized that their faces were inches apart. This time, Toushirou initiated the kiss.

To him, the first kiss had felt like the first few drops of water after a long drought.

When the two broke apart, Karin was staring at Toushirou, slightly cross-eyed from his proximity. At this sight, Toushirou burst out laughing. Still laughing, Toushirou stood up and grasped the hand of a confused Karin to help her to her feet, and led the way back to her house.

All the way back, Karin felt a burning sensation on her lips.

…

The Monday next morning, both Karin and Toushirou had returned almost back to the way they were before before the kiss. Almost. Only Rangiku noticed something wrong with how her captain was acting, but she made no comment.

Ichigo also noticed that Karin was spacing out more than usual. But then again, she'd been through a lot the past few weeks, so he didn't think much of it and didn't push the matter. He turned his attention to the newspaper. Flicking through it, he noticed an article that made him go pale. Eyes widening and mouth tightening, he shut the newspaper and put it down.

While serving breakfast of waffles with strawberry and whipped cream, Yuzu noticed that everyone was rather strange, particularly her brother. He had been completely silent after he had looked through the newspaper. Wondering what he could have read to disturb him so much, after she had finished serving the waffles, she reached for the newspaper. Ichigo, seeing this abruptly shoved Yuzu's hand away. Confused and hurt, Yuzu could only stammer, "O...onii-chan...?"

With a calm voice, belied only by his face expression, he explained hastily, "There's just a gory picture that I don't want you to see." He tried to joke, "It'll take your appetite away." Still acting like a startled mouse, Yuzu silently nodded.

Only at this small fiasco over breakfast did Karin realize that there was something wrong with her brother. She resolved to force it out of him after she got back from school.

After finishing breakfast and picking up their backpacks, Karin, Yuzu, and Toushirou left for school. No sooner had they stepped out the front door did Hiko intercept them.

"Hey."

"Hello, Hiko senpai." "Heya Capt." Yuzu and Karin chorused, Karin perhaps more dully.

Again, Karin asked Hiko, "What about your girlfriend, Capt? Wouldn't she be angry that you're not picking her up instead?"

"Her house isn't on my way to school. Besides, we broke up." At this, Karin felt a stab of guilt though she had no idea why. It wasn't like _she_ was the reason they broke up, she thought. But the way Hiko looked at Karin, as if to say, 'there, you happy now?' suggested otherwise. On the contrary, at this, Karin felt even unhappier. When she realized this, she knew she no longer liked Hiko. Then she felt her cheeks threaten to burn with shame at how quickly her feelings had changed, and regret that she had ever wished for Hiko and his girlfriend to break up. That he had never known her feelings was the only comfort. She half wanted to chance a glance towards Toushirou, but the other half of her was afraid of what she would see there.

Much like they had previously, the four trudged in uncomfortable silence. Except unlike last time, Karin was acutely aware of the tension.

When they separated at the school's front gate, Karin breathed a small sigh of relief.

Karin continued to space out throughout the whole day, causing teachers to screech at her to pay attention and eventually give up in a huff. She absently answered the question "Why did many of the Japanese move to Hawaii?" with "because they're stupid" and then the question "Do you know what the products of cellular respiration are?" with "isn't it just plants passing gas" which earned her a lump the size of a goose egg on her head and a nice long break outside of class with her hands up in the air.

Scritching at the surface of his paper with his pencil, Toushirou kept a careful eye on Karin as she stood outside the classroom.

Soccer practice was no better. More than ever, Karin was back on autopilot, weaving through the team members without passing the ball. She didn't hear Hiko call to her that he was open.

On one occasion, her elbow brushed Toushirou's arm and she jumped away as if she'd been burned, causing her to lose possession of the ball. When she had made several of the same mistakes, and even kicked the ball into the wrong goal, Coach Sasaki's patience wore thin and he blew the whistle to pause the scrimmage. He shouted, "Oi, Kurosaki! What is up with you? Focus, focus! You hear me?"

Karin hung her head and nodded.

"Aww, c'mon now Coach, everyone has their off-days don't they?"

"Yeah, lay off of her a little."

Seta patted her back sympathetically. Hiko stared impassively at her, and Karin momentarily met his eyes before she quickly looked away.

…

Five figures knelt at the foot of the throne and spoke as one.

"We shall take our leave now."

Without turning to face them, Aizen replied, "Do not return without the girl."

A figure that could be recognized as Caballero was at the head of this group. With a glint in his unmonocled eye he answered, "Yes, master."

As the arrancar left, Aizen turned to look at the figure beside him. "Things are getting interesting, are they not?"

The only answer was a nervous giggle.

…

The disastrous soccer practice ended on a rather depressing note. As Karin exited the girls' locker rooms, she saw Toushirou waiting for her there. Avoiding his gaze, as well as Hiko's and Seta's gazes from behind him, Karin headed towards the classroom that Yuzu's home economics club was held in. Hiko watched the two go with a strange expression on his face. Seta had only to look at him to realize Hiko was jealous. He hadn't missed the news that Hiko had broken up with his girlfriend, either. _'So he's finally realized he likes her… and it's too late.'_ It was ironic, Seta thought, shaking his head and walking ahead of Hiko, who was still staring after Karin and Toushirou.

Yuzu didn't understand why Karin suddenly insisted on walking home together when they had long been used to walking separately after they finished with their respective club activities. She understood even less when Toushirou silently accompanied them; she wondered if he was being chivalrous or if it was merely for convenience because he and Karin were in the same soccer team. Nonetheless, she enjoyed the company, even if one was sulking and the other stone quiet.

"It's been a while since we walked back home together, huh, Karin-chan?" Yuzu smiled.

Karin managed to crack a grin that looked more like a grimace. "Y-yeah… It has."

Karin resisted the urge to kick a stray pebble. She didn't know what was wrong with her and why she was moody. But she didn't have long to dwell on the reason why because a sudden spiritual pressure dropped down on them.

Caballero, true to his promise, had returned.

...

N.A: Took longer to update this time... Sorry! At least this chapter's decent sized. ^^


	12. Success

**Chapter 12: Success**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: SO sorry I took so long to update! Sometimes (all the time) life just takes you and slaps you around. This time, it was my sister's wedding, and now I'm in Korea.

Warning: Hectic battle scene coming up.

…

**Chapter 12**

Success

…

Caballero, true to his word, had returned.

All hell broke loose. Toushirou immediately took action, shoving a Soul Candy into his mouth and bursting out of his gigai, shouting at the gikongan inside his body to take Yuzu to safety. He took out a black watch-like device and shouted into it, "Requesting permission for limit release! ASAP!"

Karin, on the other hand, with her hot temper and eagerness to prove herself, grit her teeth and headed right to the center of the cluster of arrancar in the sky, where Caballero stood. Realizing far too late what she had done, Toushirou jumped up after her. However, Karin had increased drastically in speed than before, from Yoruichi's training.

Time seemed to slow down as his arm reached out to grip the back of her gray jacket of her uniform.

He fell short and was shortly overwhelmed by the other four arrancar. _'No, it's too reckless…! Karin!' _he thought desperately.

Meanwhile, Karin, standing in the air, crossed her arms to face the gentleman arrancar.

"So you've come back?" She said coolly, though her thoughts inside were in tumult. He had absolutely no regard for the humans in this vicinity, especially her sister. Glancing back at the other arrancar, she added, "With more lackeys, to boot."

"Though I do not appreciate the way you refer to my companions," unnecessarily pretending to adjust his monocle mask, Caballero continued, "Of course. A gentleman must always keep his word."

"We could all do with fewer gentlemen in this world." Karin muttered.

"Oh, now my feelings are hurt." Caballero returned, though the wide smile on his face indicated otherwise. Upon seeing this, Karin narrowed her eyes.

"I'm warning you… You're wrong if you think I'm the same as when you ambushed me before." Karin said, and in a blink, she had disappeared from Caballero's line of sight. Nonetheless, the arrancar knew where she was and the corners of his lips curled up in delight.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me." He blocked her attack from behind with a single hand. "Your improvements, in terms of speed, are vast indeed. It took you a tenth of the time than it took you last time to react. And you also got behind me." Smile growing wider, he sighed dramatically and said in mock woe, "But I'm afraid it's still not quite enough."

Following Aizen's explicit command not to return without the girl, Caballero didn't play around this time, and used sonido to take his place back behind Karin, who spun around too late to block his blow to her neck. The world turned dark.

…

All the while, Toushirou was continuing to face the four arrancar who had surrounded him, blocking his way to Caballero and thus, Karin. Gritting his teeth, Toushirou ground out, "Get out of my way."

A pale-faced female arrancar to Toushirou's left laughed softly. "That sounded like a command. But we do not follow your commands." In fact, she rather looked like the type that _gave _commands; she had a starburst-shaped mask nestled in her hime-cut black hair. It looked rather like a tiara.

Another arrancar, whose gray bangs were held back with remains of his mask in the curious form of many little overlapping bones, on Toushirou's right grinned nastily and said, "That's big talk for a single small shinigami who's outnumbered, ah?"

The one in front of Toushirou was bald and had a mask circling round his head leaving his dark face bare and illuminating eyes that looked like they had black eyeliner around them. This one held out an arm, signaling to the others to hold back from attacking.

"Fighting by numbers is not our way. Also, I have a bone to pick with this one. So I'll hope you'll leave this shinigami to me." Though he phrased this as a request, it looked like anything but, as he looked around with threatening eyes, emphasized by what first appeared to be eyeliner, which upon closer inspection, actually turned out to be black tattoos around the contours of his eyes.

Two of the arrancar backed off, straightening from their fighting poses without protest, albeit reluctantly.

_'From how they're following his orders, seems like eyeliner is the strongest…'_ Thought the captain.

But one remaining arrancar with no visible mask, who had been standing behind Toushirou, sneered at the one who had challenged the young captain, "I'll watch from the sidelines for now, but if you show the faintest signs of weakness…" His face expression said the rest.

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Toushirou turned back around to question the arrancar whom he had dubbed 'Eyeliner,' "I've never seen you in my life. Who are you and what grudge do you bear against me?"

The one who had tattooed eyes replied, "I am Sarcofago, the Octavo Espada." He held out a forearm tattooed with the number eight.

Inwardly, Toushirou cursed to himself at having an espada between him and Karin, along with the Segundo Espada. But he still didn't know why the arrancar bore a grudge.

The Espada spoke again. "You remember Mirra? The one you fought and killed last time?"

'_What does the arrancar with the bandages have to do with the arrancar in front of me?'_ Toushirou thought irritably. As if reading Toushirou's mind, Sarcofago followed up swiftly.

"My full name is Sarcofago Hablar. Does my surname ring a bell?"

**Flashback**

_"I'm Mirra Hablar, numeros 36."_

**Flashback End**

The shinigami captain realized that he was facing off with the brother of Mirra. As soon as he remembered, Toushirou immediately bent into a fighting stance, which was almost too late, because Sarcofago had already started charging towards him. Toushirou brought up his sword just in time to block the sword attack. Though he thrust Sarcofago's sword off, it took no small effort, and Toushirou had to bring his sword up almost immediately again to block another heavy blow, which was even harder to handle. With gravity added to Sarcofago's already powerful hits, Toushirou knew he was at a disadvantage. When his sword was pushed down to the point that the blade nearly touched his face, Toushirou finally released Hyourinmaru. Inwardly he cursed the sticklers who still insisted on placing the gentai-rerin* (Soul limiting Seal) on every captain-class shinigami. He desperately waited for the sign allowing the limit release, and his companions, to take on the other arrancar.

'_Matsumoto… Get here soon!'_

***Gentai rerin = Seal limiting 80% of captains' and lieutenants' powers**

…

Because they couldn't find a place to sleep, Izuru and Shuuhei had ended up staying at Urahara's candy shop, though they'd had to camp out on the basement training ground along with Renji, on account of the 'lack of space.' At least, according to shop owner.

The attack had occurred during the period that Ururu and Jinta were still at school.

Izuru had already woken up long ago, eaten both breakfast and lunch, and was even helping out around the shop in the absence of the two kids when he felt the arrancar reiatsu drop heavily into the human world.

Renji and Shuuhei were sleeping like logs (albeit snoring ones) when their cellphones rang the alarm. Immediately bolting awake, they grabbed their phones and shot up the ladder. Stopping only to trade grim looks, the three ran out of the shop. Urahara and Yoruichi stayed behind; they knew that three captains and three lieutenants, not to mention three other shinigami, were enough to fight off five arrancar. But Urahara felt uneasy nonetheless. _'I feel as if something will happen...'_

…

Shutting the front door of the apartment as he returned from a day of classes at the university, Asano Keigo sighed. Mizuiro had left with older (and hotter) women yet again. Life was unfair, he plaintively thought. But he had his own friends. Or guests, no matter how unwanted and dangerous they were. Temporary guest-friends, Keigo decided to dub them as he headed towards the guest room, poised to ask if they were up for a friendly (not to mention unfair, as the two had never encountered a game console) game on the Xbox.

As he reached for the handle of the door, he yelped and leapt back with surprise upon hearing several hideous screeching noises coming through the door, followed immediately by the two unwanted guests bursting forth from the room and blowing past him out the front door. Which left Keigo standing alone in the apartment.

Granted, the guests had been unwanted, but that's because they weren't girls. No matter how girly one looked. Just because the guests themselves were unwanted didn't mean Keigo didn't want their company. At least that was how Keigo thought about it, anyways – it made sense in _his_ head.

So after they rushed out, he stood alone, talking to the air. "Wow… no 'welcome back?'"

Life really was unfair to Asano Keigo.

…

The two female shinigami, along with Ichigo, jumped out of the window as soon as they heard the alarm.

All of the shinigami's cellphones reacted at the same time, and though they themselves felt the immense spiritual pressure, their cellphones informed them that the attack this time consisted of not one, not two, but no less than five Espada.

…

Toushirou, not knowing that he was surrounded by Espada, was nonetheless having trouble fighting. _'Where's Matsumoto? Where's Kurosaki? Kuchiki? What happened to those reinforcements?' _Though Toushirou was an acknowledged swordsmaster, he avoided fighting in close range when he faced a physically stronger opponent, preferring only to get in close to deal a finishing blow. However, the arrancar he was facing off against gave him no chance to get, much less maintain, the distance he desired. Sarcofago kept closing in, keeping the smaller shinigami at a perpetual disadvantage.

For the umpteenth time, Toushirou thought impatiently, _'When is that limit release coming…?'_ Until the limit on his powers was lifted, he could only fight at a fifth of his full strength, which would be nowhere near enough to defeat this Espada. Irritated, his thoughts were filled with bile. _'Fat lot of help the reinforcements are.'_

To slow down his opponent's movements, Toushirou threw the crescent moon blade attached to the chain on his zanpakutou like a boomerang in the little time he had between the clash of their swords. With a rattle, the crescent blade swung back, capturing and freezing Sarcofago's arms and sword. But it didn't last for long. With a snarl, Sarcofago easily broke the ice, using his hierro (steel skin).

"Is this all you've got?" Sarcofago scoffed. He lunged and the two locked blades once again. "I'm surprised you beat my brother at all, little shinigami."

With an effort, Toushirou managed to ignore the jab at his size and held his ground. Suddenly jerking his sword away from the deadlock, he caused Sarcofago to stumble forward. Toushirou took this chance to swing Hyourinmaru in an attempt to freeze his opponent again. Though Sarcofago dodged, from a distance, the maskless arrancar shifted restlessly with an angry expression on his face.

Noticing this and becoming simultaneously angered and nervous for reasons unknown to Toushirou, Sarcofago shouted, "I'll finish this off once and for all!" He pointed his sword at Toushirou. "Entiérrelo*, Ataúd*!"

***Entiérrelo = bury him**

***Ataúd = coffin**

Though Toushirou leapt back instinctively, at first, it didn't seem as though anything was happening. Not made the youngest captain for nothing, however, Toushirou remained wary, which was just as well, because after a few moments, with a rumbling sound, countless rocks ranging from the size of pebbles to boulders rose in the air to surround their summoner. Too late, Toushirou realized that he should have attacked beforehand. He did so now, even as more rocks rose from the ground. As the arrancar pointed his sword straight towards Toushirou, the suspended rocks pelted in the shinigami's direction. Rushing in towards Sarcofago, it was the same as rushing in towards the attack, and as he couldn't change direction mid-motion, Toushirou had no way to avoid the maelstrom of rocks. He had time to glimpse what he recognized as Caballero's solitary figure in the distance over Sarcofago's shoulder before the rocks slammed into him. What had happened to Karin?

The rocks hurled Toushirou back into the wall of a building, burying him under the mass of boulders mixed with rocks and dirt. After a rain of dust and rocks, all was still.

Sarcofago eyed the unmoving mound with disdain. "This is all you amounted to, huh? I grieve for my brother, who lost to scum like this." He turned his back on the pile of rocks and said to his companions, "Let's go back."

"Stop!"

Ichigo had arrived at the scene of havoc first. He looked round, saw a pile of boulders, spied five arrancar – all of whom were Espada, he knew from Rukia's cellphone – and among them, the previously lone Caballero holding what looked like an unconscious Karin. The gentleman spared one hand to tip his white top hat in what seemed like a cordial manner towards him; except Ichigo knew better.

"Karin!" He cried out.

Rukia and Rangiku arrived moments later. They looked around and saw the same thing Ichigo did, though Rangiku focused on something else. She couldn't see her captain, but she could still feel his presence.

Sure enough, the crumbled pile of rocks shifted slightly; then a particularly large boulder froze and shattered, revealing an injured Hitsugaya Toushirou. He had frozen himself just in time, preventing the boulders from crushing him under their weight.

"Taichou!" Rangiku cried out. She ran out to him as he staggered out of the pile of rubble. His eyes frantically scanned for Karin's gray uniform, and saw it flicker into his sight in Caballero's arms. He could have sworn that before the rocks had crashed into him that Caballero had been alone. He gripped the transmitter that gave him contact to Soul Society. It crackled to life and he heard, _'Permission granted.'_

He almost sagged with relief. His voice was faint as he said, "They finally… gave the permit..."

Rangiku realized immediately what her captain was talking about. Giving a weak smile to her captain despite her worry, she said, "You'd think they'd learn after the first time."

"It's been four years since Espada have set foot here. The Science Department's gotten soft." Toushirou reminded her with a grimace of pain.

The first time an Espada had led numeros to unexpected attack on Karakura, and 80% of the shinigami's powers had been sealed; it had taken ages for the Science Department to give the permission to the shinigami who had encountered arrancar for the first time. Because of the Science Department's late response, they had almost lost the battle then.

Now the 10th Division Captain pulled at the front of his hakama, opening it slightly, drawing a circular sign on his chest to release the seal. Rangiku and Rukia quickly followed suit. On the Toushirou and Matsumoto's chests the seal's light shined to briefly reveal a daffodil, the insignia of 10th division. On Rukia's, a snowdrop, the insignia of the 13th division, appeared.

"Limit release!" They all yelled.

…

The three shinigami heading from the Urahara premises felt the sudden release of spiritual power. They too drew a circular sign on their chests; marigolds shined on Renji and Izuru's chests, while a buttercup shined on Shuuhei's.

"Limit release!"

…

The female arrancar turned around sharply at the release of spiritual pressure, cocking an eyebrow at the shinigami now at full strength. "Sarcofago, it seems that your follow-through needs some work."

The man with gray hair said hungrily, "There are others now, ah?" He licked his lips and grinned. "Itadakimasu!" (thanks for the meal)

In an alarmingly short amount of time, he was crouching in front of Rangiku and Toushirou. Eying them both with a positively hungry look on his face, he tilted his head and drawled, "I guess I'll choose the fresher meat, ah? This one's too beat up, ah." He nodded towards Toushirou. He turned towards the uninjured Rangiku, whose hand immediately went to her zanpakutou. "With more meat to her, as well. I'll water you well, my rose, ah?" He leered.

Rangiku looked at him with disdain, and she pulled out Haineko and released her shikai. "Oh please. Don't you know that every rose has its thorns?"

Toushirou on the other hand, was searching in what was rapidly turning into a battlefield for other signs of Caballero. Last he had seen the arrancar, he had been holding Karin. Finally, Toushirou found the distinctive top hat, but Caballero was again alone. Had the rocks addled his brain and caused him to see things? Karin was nowhere in sight. Caballero stood by himself. Fighting back his panic, he tried to convince himself that she had somehow gotten away; he failed. He berated himself for being so weak as to want to believe something that he knew that Karin couldn't - no, wouldn't - do. Glancing at Rangiku, who nodded in return, he trusted his lieutenant to take care of the opponent before her, approached his opponent himself. He had been a fool for attempting to take on an Espada without using bankai in the first place, Toushirou thought bitterly. He remedied his mistake now, thrusting Hyourinmaru up towards the heavens and releasing his bankai.

"Daiguren Hyourinmaru!"

Water particles rapidly gathered around Toushirou's limbs and shoulder blades, solidifying and forming claws and wings that stretched into a tail of ice. Three ice flowers with four petals each also materialized behind him. Sarcofago greeted him with another clash of blades, and was dismayed to find Toushirou had become much faster and stronger, and that his hierro no longer worked.

The seemingly maskless arrancar took a single step forward and disappeared, reappearing in front of Ichigo.

"Orange hair. Large zanpakutou." His amber eyes closely examined the shinigami in question. "You're Kurosaki Ichigo." he stated.

Undeterred by the scrutiny, Ichigo wordlessly flash-stepped past the arrancar.

Eyes flashing dangerously, the spurned arrancar turn around, and performed sonido in return so he was back in front of Ichigo. Ignoring the arrancar again, Ichigo didn't only take one step, but sped forward. But amber eyes blocked his path all the way through.

Stopping, Ichigo said in a quiet voice, "Sorry, but I'll fight you later, after I get my sister back."

Stretching his neck in a rather serpentine way, the amber-eyed arrancar replied, "I don't think so." He added in with an ominous glint in his eyes, "Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo's patience gauge reached an all time low and his temper flared. "Move!"

Raising her eyebrows, the female arrancar too, used sonido and bent her head close to Ichigo's and whispered in his ear, "Why do you not force him to move with your sword?"

She smiled and easily dodged Ichigo's agitated horizontal sword swipe.

The maskless arrancar said in a warning tone, "Clara. He's mine."

She replied, "I was encouraging him to fight you, if you please. You should be thanking me." Having said that, she glided over to Rukia.

The two were of similar stature, but their poses were very different. Rukia's stance was firm and ready for fight; Sode no Shirayuki was out and released. Clara looked like the epitome of politeness, and her zanpakutou remained in its sheath as well. Clara smiled and bowed to Rukia, with only a hint of mocking in her movements. "Well, let us introduce ourselves, as is your shinigami custom, I believe. If I may be so rude to introduce myself first, I am Clara Luz, the Novena Espada."

Though Rukia had a strong personality, she got swept into her enemy's pace. "I am Kuchiki Rukia, lieutenant of the 13th Division."

Ikkaku and Yumichika were the second group to arrive. Ikkaku groaned when it seemed that all the arrancar were taken. Ichigo spotted him and shouted, "Ikkaku! Come help me out here! I need to get to Karin!"

Appeased in no time, Ikkaku cheerfully roared back, "Thought you'd never ask!"

At this, the arrancar hissed, revealing his mask at last, as pointy fangs. "You dare to relegate me to another shinigami like some boring task, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

But the shinigami he directed the tirade to had shot off towards Caballero; he found himself facing an entirely different shinigami. Landing in front of the arrancar lightly, Ikkaku grinned with anticipation of the upcoming battle. "Sorry, but you'll just have to settle for the best. I'm Madarame Ikkaku, 3rd seat of the 11th division."

All this time, Caballero had been watching the scene complacently. As Ichigo approached, his blood ran cold; Caballero no longer held Karin.

…

The trio from Urahara's house came at last, and by then it looked like the Winter War all over again.

"Shit. What's going on?"

Seeing Rukia hard-pressed up against her opponent, Renji went to help her.

Shuuhei spotted Rangiku facing off against an arrancar by herself, bleeding from a forehead wound, and shot off in her direction at once. Placing himself in between Rangiku and the enemy, he called out, "Are you alright, Rangiku-san?"

She shouted something back, but he couldn't hear. When he narrowly avoided being speared by the man with gray hair, Shuuhei realized that Rangiku had been trying to warn him. It had been his long-time dream of saving Rangiku, whom he imagined every time as a damsel in distress, but he'd never gotten the chance; she was too strong. Here his chance had come, but he was already embarrassing himself. Immediately he released his zanpakutou, shouting the shikai command he hated so much, "Kare (reap), Kazeshini!"

Holding the two double-ended scythes in both hands and examining his opponent, Shuuhei introduced himself. "I'm Hisagi Shuuhei, Captain of the 9th division. Who are you?"

The arrancar had a glint in his eye as he looked past the 9th division captain. Shuuhei didn't like it; he knew what – or who – the arrancar was looking at as he licked his lips. Without looking at Shuuhei, the arrancar asked, "What's it to you, ah?"

Snorting, Shuuhei replied, "Because it's polite to introduce yourself. But if you'd rather not -" he was interrupted by raucous laughter.

"According to the other Espada, I don't even have table manners! So why should I polite enough to introduce myself, ah?" He finally looked at Shuuhei and smirked. "But just so you'll know who killed you, I'm De-Pie Pescados, ah." As he finished his sentence, he attacked.

Meanwhile, Ichigo confronted Caballero. "What have you done with Karin?" Ichigo growled.

Shrugging, Caballero said in a nonchalant tone, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play fool with me! You were just holding her! What have you done with her?"

Caballero smiled underneath the brim of his hat. In truth, he had purposely let Ichigo glimpse his younger sister. Or to be precise, an afterimage of her. Oh, the delights of tormenting shinigami.

…

Karin woke to something cold dripping onto her face. She opened her eyes and it seemed like she was in a damp dungeon; which explained the cold dripping – it must have been water. Moving to wipe it off, a clanking noise and some force prevented her. She was chained to a wall. At this discovery, she sat up abruptly and regretted it immediately; her head and neck ached in a way that reminded her of the time she'd gotten whiplash. Except this felt a hundred times worse.

Where was she?

…

…

A/N: Sorry to end at such a cliffhanger ^^

To keep track of all the new characters I've created, I present to you, my readers…** Cue drumroll…**

The Arrancar Profiles!

...

Name: Caballero Sonriete Asesino (Gentleman Smiling Assassin)

Rank: 2nd Espada

Mask Remnant: Monocle

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: Unknown

Rank: Unknown (hint, the arrancar are in order of rank)

Mask Remnant: Fangs

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: Sarcofago Hablar (Sarcophagus Speaking)

Rank: 8th Espada

Mask Remnant: Around his face

Zanpakutou: Ataúd, (coffin)

Attacks: Entiérrelo (bury him)

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: Clara Luz (Light) [Clara derived from Claro (clear)]

Rank: 9th Espada

Mask Remnant: Starburst-shaped tiara in her hair

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: De-Pie Pescados [Standing Fish]

Rank: 10th Espada

Mask Remnant: Headband of little overlapping bones

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: Mirra Hablar (Mummy Speaking) [deceased]

Rank: Numeros #36

Mask Remnant: Bones around his forehead

Zanpakutou: Vendajes (Bandages)

Resurrecion: Envolvió (Entwine)

Resurrecion effects: Bones stretch to make him look more mummy-like. Bones wrap around the opponent.


	13. Fellow Soul

**Chapter 13: Fellow Soul**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: I'm just going to say that I have never learnt Spanish, so I have no idea how to conjugate things.

Warning: Another hectic battle scene during the middle. Sigh… Writing battle scenes really isn't my thing… =_= I know there's not much meat to the chapter, but stick with me ^^

…

**Chapter 13**

Fellow Soul

…

'_I'm in a dungeon. How exciting.'_ Karin could not keep the sarcastic thoughts out of her head. Sighing, Karin shifted uncomfortably. How had she ended up here? She had been facing Caballero… '_Ah…'_ So that was it. That gentleman-wannabe bastard had knocked her out and brought her here.

Careful not to turn her head enough for it to hurt, Karin took in her surroundings. There was a steel door about some distance away. _'What a gloomy place…' _He probably doesn't get many guests, Karin thought with grim good humor.

A groaning noise caught her attention and she turned her head quickly, ignoring the pain that laced up through her various neck muscles, including what the corner of her brain vaguely registered as her trapezius. There had been somebody with her; she hadn't noticed because she had been careful not to hurt her neck.

Familiar shaggy black hair shifted. Instantly recognizing the figure chained next to her, she finally croaked out, "Tatsuki…?" She automatically cleared her throat; she was parched.

The figure shifted. "Don't… look…" it came out as a stifled sob. But Tatsuki never cried, Karin thought to herself. What could have happened?

'_Unless…' _A horrifying thought occurred to her.

"Tatsuki!" Karin cried out with a voice tinged with desperation. "Look at me!"

Tatsuki wordlessly shook her head, whipping her hair back and forth, her chains rattling from the ferocity of the refusal. Then Tatsuki's body stiffened and after a moment of attempting to hold it back, she roared in pain.

Or hunger.

Her suspicions had been correct.

Karin shivered at both the eeriness and the familiarity of the sound. Though she herself had gone through the very same experience, she couldn't imagine the despair she would have experienced if she hadn't met Toushirou… _'Toushirou…'_ Karin thought suddenly. _'If only I hadn't rushed in...'_ Karin berated herself. Was he still facing the arrancar? Had the backup come? She was jolted from her thoughts as Tatsuki's spasm seemed to end. When the spasm was over, Tatsuki's body suddenly became lax, the shackles around wrists the only thing keeping her from collapsing to the ground entirely. Karin began to struggle against her chains. If her own hands hadn't been chained, Karin would have used them to force Tatsuki to look at her. Unsurprisingly, she was unable to free her hands, she instead tried a different approach.

"A mask is forming, isn't it?"

A shaky intake of breath was the only answer. Then, slowly, Tatsuki looked up, revealing a mask three-quarters formed, and Karin was taken aback. She hadn't expected the mask to form to such an extent. Even details such as two black stripes from above Tatsuki's eyes, down the bridge of her nose and up again to what Karin saw would make a V shape when completed. _'I won't let that happen.'_ Karin thought determinedly. She couldn't see Tatsuki's mouth for the skull teeth, but the single eye that was visible glinted with a glimmer of hope from Karin's apparent knowledge of her situation.

Karin wasn't so confident; Tatsuki's mask had formed so much. But she didn't let her dismay show on her face. In the worst-case scenario, it would agitate Tatsuki to the point of no return.

Again, Karin struggled, this time not free herself, but to get into a more comfortable position, an almost impossible attempt due to the fact that her hands were chained to the wall behind her. But she could get her legs into a less uncomfortable position, at least. At last, when her position became somewhat bearable, she prepared to address Tatsuki again. She opened her mouth. "You're turning into a hollow right now."

She realized immediately that had been the wrong to say, when she saw that more of Tatsuki's mask formed at the agitation that this statement caused. Hastily Karin supplied, "But it's… reversible." This wasn't exactly true, but that was the closest that Karin could get to explaining without triggering more of Tatsuki's fear. Choosing her words more carefully this time, Karin said, "Listen. You've got to meditate. You've done that for karate plenty of times, right?"

Even from the visible quarter of Tatsuki's face, Karin could tell that she thought the idea that meditation could help her was crazy. Karin grit her teeth and steeled herself; if anything convinced Tatsuki, this would be it.

"I went through the same experience as this, so trust me. You don't see a mask on my face, do you?"

Tatsuki's eyes widened, as realization dawned upon her.

…

Ichigo stood in front of Caballero, asking questions that the latter would simply deflect.

"Where's Karin?"

After looking around as if searching for the girl, Caballero finally turned back to Ichigo and shrugged.

"Now, where on earth could she be?" he asked back, grinning slyly.

Ichigo snapped. "Don't fuck with me - !"

He swung his sword; a wild swing that Caballero could easily dodge. Suddenly, Ichigo was bleeding profusely from a long horizontal cut on his side and Caballero was nowhere to be seen. Staggering, Ichigo winced and gingerly placed a hand on the wound. He looked about and yelled, "Stop hiding and come out and face me like a man!"

Caballero's voice came from somewhere in front of Ichigo. "Ah, but I am no mere man. I am a _gentle_man. Which deserves some form of respect, don't you agree?" Stepping seemingly out of thin air before Ichigo, Caballero smiled down at the orange-haired shinigami who was still gripping his wound.

Circling around Ichigo, Caballero commented conversationally, "Did you know, that in a battle, in the moment of attack, depending on one's speed, that there are a few moments where one is wide open?" Slipping a gloved hand into his front pocket, he drew out his pocket watch and flicked it open. "And for you…" His green eyes flickered down to look at the watch and he promptly disappeared from Ichigo's line of sight. "That opening lasted…" Ichigo reacted to the voice that came from somewhere behind him and narrowly avoided being sliced in two from behind. "For one whole tenths of a second, which is plenty of time for me."

Skidding through the air, Ichigo turned to face Caballero, who was tucking away his pocket watch once again.

Closing his eyes, the Segundo Espada softly stated, "Four years of peace. Four years of not fighting, four years of lowering your guard…" His green eyes shot open, and for the first time, the gentleman raised his voice, "has made you weak, Kurosaki Ichigo!"

From this accusation, something that had been asleep in Ichigo seemed to stir a bit at this. With a new glint in his eyes, Ichigo looked up at Caballero. "Thanks for the wake up call, Caballero."

In a flash, he had released his bankai and vanished from sight.

…

Meanwhile, Ikkaku and the arrancar were duking it out, talking the whole time.

"I'm Madarame Ikkaku, third seat of the 11th Division. What's your name, arrancar?" Ignoring the question asked to him, the arrancar shot forward. Their swords clashed with a clang, and taking the chance when their faces were close together, the arrancar examined Ikkaku closely.

"Madarame Ikkaku? I've heard that name before…" He leapt back and tried to remember where. "Red eye markings… Bald…" At this a vein popped out of Ikkaku's head, as being called bald was his pet peeve.

"What did you say?"

Ignoring Ikkaku's indignant shout, the arrancar seemed to remember where he'd heard Ikkaku's name. "You have bankai, don't you? Only third seat and you have bankai…" He mused.

Instantly forgetting about the observation that he'd considered an insult Ikkaku's face grew somber. "So the rumor has spread even to Hueco Mundo, eh?" However, he continued fighting with only his sword.

"You will not face me with you bankai?" The arrancar bore his fangs in fury.

Ikkaku grinned at the sight of his opponent getting riled up. "Not unless you tell me your name, I won't."

Narrowing his eyes, the arrancar reluctantly replied, "I am Serpiente Estrangulador*, 5th Espada."

Delighted that his plan to get his opponent's name had worked, Ikkaku immediately released his shikai. "Nobiro (extend), Houzikimaru!" he lunged with a new fervor using Houzikamru in its spear mode, overwhelming his opponent.

"What, you're not going to face me at full power either?" Ikkaku asked, referring to the fact that Serpiente hadn't released his resurrecion yet.

Having had enough of Ikkaku's prodding, Serpiente finally used his resurrecion. "Muerde, Látigo*!"

His fangs disappeared, replaced by a skeletal hood, reminiscent of a cobra, holding a whip.

"That's the ticket!" Ikkaku bellowed, rushing in for real this time.

Serpiente coldly said, "My weapon has a longer range than yours. Now that I have used my resurrecion, you have no chance."

The stronger, the better. "We'll see about that!"

***Serpiente Estrangulador = Serpent Strangler**

***Muerde = bite**

***Látigo = whip**

…

Even if the young captain was injured, Sarcofago seemed hard-pressed against the Toushirou who had his limit released. So he tried a slyer tactic.

"Arqueta*!"

This time, Toushirou did not wait to see what the attack would do; it was dangerous to give this arrancar enough time to prepare an attack. He easily dodged Sarcofago's subsequent rather wild, two-handed sword swing, and closed into that very place for what he thought would be the final blow. Toushirou would later look back and realize that underestimating the enemy could cost him his life; what he had judged to be a wild swing that provided a perfect opening, had been planned to provide an opening on purpose and lure him into that exact spot. Where Sarcofago sword had sliced the air, two halves of a coffin made of stone appeared and clapped together, trapping Toushirou within with a dull thud.

Sarcofago wasted no time in making his next move; he had learned from his previous mistake in failing to finish Toushirou off.

"Lanza de la Piedra*!" Large stone shards rapidly gathered and were suspended in the air around the coffin, and then pierced the coffin all through. A thick liquid – blood – slowly dripped through the cracks of the coffin and fell to the air.

Seeing this, unlike the first time he had believed that he had killed Toushirou, Sarcofago threw his head back and laughed maniacally. He had been driven almost crazy with the adrenalin rush that the fight had given him. "Brother, I have avenged you!"

Then the coffin blasted apart.

***Arqueta = Casket/coffin**

***Lanza de la Piedra = Spear of Stone**

…

Meanwhile, Izuru used kidou techniques to heal the bleeding Rukia, who had been temporarily blinded by an unknown technique that Clara had performed, and subsequently slashed across the back in her vulnerable state.

Clara had then knocked Rukia ruthlessly unconscious and was now head-to-head with Renji. Or rather, head-to-side, as she had shouted, "Grillos de la Luz*!" binding Renji's limbs with the physical manifestation of her light, holding him in a spread eagle position; she now stood at his side.

***Grillos de la Luz = shackles of light**

"Now I see a worthy man." Tilting her head and smiling, Clara continued, "And just my type, as well." She stroked his cheek and chucked Renji under the chin.

Turning his head away from her, Renji grinned grimly in response, "Sorry, but you're not quite my type."

"A pity. We would have made quite the couple." In a flash, she had disappeared and Renji felt a powerful blow to his gut.

In contrast to her petite size, Clara was physically very powerful.

The red haired shinigami quickly released Zabimaru's enormous bankai, which broke the light binds that held him in place with and coiled around him like an enormous snake. But it was too slow to match Clara – she simply dodged between the segments and made to attack. But Renji, though his kidou skills were rather poor, still managed to shout, "Hadou 31, Shakkahou!" and send a red blast towards the incoming arrancar.

Barely managing to dodge this blast from hitting anything vital, after the attack, Clara had still sustained damage as she bled from a wound to the shoulder of her sword arm. Leaping back, she fell into the trap that Renji had set up beforehand.

She struggled to break free from the red reiatsu ropes that had previously held together the segments of Renji's bankai. This time, their positions were switched.

Forcing a smile, Clara said, "I apologize, but I prefer to be the S rather than the M when I court people."

"Too bad." Renji then shouted, "Hikotsu Taihou! (Baboon Bone Cannon)"

A red jet of light blasted from the skull attached to the end of Zabimaru's segments, engulfing Clara.

…

De-Pie, renown for his fearless and hungry manner, was surprisingly panting and sweating while fighting against Shuuhei. He had been chased around by Shuuhei's zanpakutou, unable to get close while one blade of Kazeshini continued to circle its wielder as if daring him to try and attack.

"You already tired?" Shuuhei asked. "We're only getting started."

De-Pie performed sonido again to avoid the double ended blade, sweat dripping off his chin. He wiped it off with his hand, his eyes gleaming, and for a moment his hand flexed.

Twirling the chains attached to his zanpakutou, Shuuhei threw Kazeshini once again, but the time, De-Pie caught Kazeshini with his bare hand.

"Wha – " Shuuhei's eyes widened with shock; Kazeshini cut through everything. De-Pie laughed when he saw Shuuhei's surprise.

"Surprised, ah? Wondering how I was able to catch your zanpakutou? You're thinking 'it should be able to cut through even hierro,' ah?" Smirking, De-Pie continued, "Well, I'll do you a favor and tell you. Dead men tell no tales, ah?"

Holding out his zanpakutou, De-Pie looked at it as if he were fascinated by his own zanpakutou. "The secret is this. You watching, ah?" Still gripping the blade of Kazeshini in his fist, De-Pie swiped the flat of his zanpakutou across his sweat-drenched body.

"Cutáneo*!"

The little bones on the remains of De-Pie's hollow mask split up and duplicated themselves until they stretched to cover De-Pie's hair, back, and legs. (A/N: imagine dermal denticles, aka shark skin… =_=) When the process finished, he was reminiscent of a shark, complete with parallel black stripe tattoos on the sides of his neck, like gills. As Shuuhei watched this, he thought with dismay, _'First a lobster*, now a shark? Did I make a living out of killing sea creatures in my previous life, for them to come back and haunt me now?'_

"My full resurrecion is only possible when my blade is covered with enough salt water. But in return, I can do a partial resurrecion if I drip even a single drop of salt water on whatever body part I choose. So you can't cut me with your blade now, ah? Not once I've sweated this much."

Shuuhei's lip curled as he jerked Kazeshini's blade out of De-Pie's fist to attack again. "Not if I reinforce my blade with reiatsu."

***Cutáneo = a layer of skin/dermis**

*Findor Carias, whom Hisagi Shuuhei faced during chap 324 (and some chapters before and after) had (lobster) claws.

…

Karin bit her lip as she watched Tatsuki attempt to meditate; she didn't want to ask any questions about their current location for fear of breaking Tatsuki's concentration. Concentration was imperative at this moment. Besides, Karin didn't even know if Tatsuki knew where they were. Despite her misgivings, Tatsuki had given into Karin's pleas just to try out meditating.

After half an hour or so, Karin heard a faint cracking sound and looked up sharply. She immediately regretted it as the pain shot up her neck, and Karin privately berated herself for forgetting about her neck injury. But now that the damage was done, she looked properly at Tatsuki and noticed that there were crack lines in her mask. Tatsuki too, had heard the sound and had opened her eyes, glancing at Karin, who nodded at her.

"It cracked." Karin said. "That's a step forward."

It hadn't shattered the way Karin's had, which puzzled her, but she had to act confident in order to encourage a spiritually unstable – and therefore also emotionally unstable – Tatsuki. Now that Tatsuki's concentration had broken, the mask seemed to be intent on reforming, and Karin warned her, "If you lose your concentration for too long, the mask'll form again."

So again, Karin lost her chance to question Tatsuki whether she knew about their location. _'Well, at least I know for a fact we're in a dungeon.'_ Karin thought dully. _'Not that it helps much.'_

…

Instinctively, Sarcofago threw up an arm to shield himself from the debris from the coffin blasting apart. After the smoke had cleared, his eyes widened at the sight.

"H-how…" he stammered.

Toushirou stood before him with no sign of being pierced by large sharp stones. Cocking his head, Toushirou said, "Though your follow-through was admirable, it was done to the wrong target."

"I… I saw your blood…"

Toushirou raised an eyebrow. "You would have. My ice clones are very realistic."

Without another word, Toushirou slashed horizontally in the direction of Sarcofago and shouted, "Hyouryuu Senbi! (Rotating Ice Dragon Tail)"

A wave of ice shot from the slash towards Sarcofago, entrapping him within.

Looking down at the coffin of ice, Toushirou asked ironically, "How's the taste of your own medicine?"

But within the ice coffin was not the Sarcofago from before. Toushirou cursed as he realized that Sarcofago had performed resurrecion at the last second before he had been frozen. The ice cracked as Sarcofago, now with a human torso and a lion's body burst out of the cage of ice.

Seeing Toushirou's stunned look, Sarcofago explained, "This is my resurrecion, Esfinge*. It means sphinx. Fitting, no? Except I've got another pair of arms." He stretched out his human pair of arms, holding a lance of stone.

Toushirou pointed out, "Impressive. But you forget, my ice can break stone," and sent another load of ice towards Sarcofago, who bounded out of the way just in time, only to meet with Toushirou's zanpakutou at close range, reinforced with ice. As the two weapons clashed, the ice spread to Sarcofago's lance, and when Toushirou brought his sword down on it a second time, the stone shattered along with the ice.

But there was what seemed like ice beneath the plain stone exterior. Toushirou's face changed to disbelief.

As if he was reading Toushirou's thoughts, Sarcofago said condescendingly, "No, it's not ice. You may not have noticed, but my power lies not with ice, like yours, but rather with stones."

"Don't insult my intelligence." Toushirou growled.

Sumgly, Sarcofago continued, "Ice is not a stone. You see, though the exterior of this lance may have been made of igneous rock, the interior is made of the hardest stone. Diamond." Looking disdainfully at Toushirou and the ice surrounding him, Sarcofago continued, "Ice is used at times to temporarily imitate diamonds." His face grew hard. "But in the end, ice is only ice. It melts into water, and it will break before this diamond."

He charged towards Toushirou, whose sheets of ice simply shattered before Sarcofago's diamond lance.

"Hahahaha! You see, diamond is really the hardest stone! Your ice is meaningless before my lance!"

Sarcofago broke through the ice barrier to prepare to spear Toushirou. The captain defended with his ice wings, which only cracked a bit before thrusting Sarcofago and his diamond lance off. "I'm getting tired of this." Swirling his sword, Toushirou brought it down and another torrent of ice cascaded down upon Sarcofago, trapping his arm and his lance.

Stepping closer, Toushirou asked, "Don't you understand?"

The ice shattered, including Sarcofago's trapped arm as well as the diamond lance. Flabbergasted, Sarcofago could only stare in disbelief, not even registering his maimed arm.

Toushirou spoke. "Even the hardness of diamond is meaningless unless there is spiritual energy backing it up." Raising his sword, Toushirou said his finishing words to Sarcofago. "The weapon is only as good as its wielder. Your mistake was putting too much pride on the strength of the lance in your hand. You relied on it too much."

Sarcofago only had time to widen his eyes before Toushirou brought down his sword to slay the beast at last.

…

Distracted by the fall of Sarcofago, Caballero looked away from Ichigo for a nanosecond, which proved to be one nanosecond too long. Ichigo took advantage of the single nanosecond to blast a black Getsuga Tenshou in his masked state.

For the first time, a blow was landed on Caballero. Though Caballero had been quick to throw a cero to reduce the impact of the attack, the Getsuga still did its work, tearing through a layer of his flesh, and blasting off Caballero's white top hat to reveal his black hair.

Even with the injury, he kept up his movements, but inevitably, the speed fell quite a bit. Caballero considered his choices for a moment. When he saw a masked Ichigo rushing towards him, with a smile that looked more like a grimace from the pain Caballero thought, _'Well, it seems I have no choice.'_

He opened the Garganta, and immediately gillian swarmed towards him and pillars of negación surrounded him and the other Espada.

As the four pillars left, each of the Espada gave a look towards their respective opponents that promised it wasn't over yet.

Clara, who had just barely negated Renji's attack using a cero of her own, was still badly injured. Once in the golden pillar, she regained her composure and smiled at Renji. "I am Clara Luz, Novena Espada. Remember my name; I'm sure we'll see each other again."

Gritting his teeth Renji shouted back, "I'm Abarai Renji, Captain of the 3rd Division! I'll remember you for hurting Rukia!"

Putting a hand on her mouth in mock surprise, Clara replied, "Though I don't wish to be remembered for such an incident, I guess I should be thankful that you declared that you will remember me at all."

Releasing his shark form within the negación, De-Pie glared at Hisagi Shuuhei. "Don't think this is over yet, shinigami."

Ichigo shouted at Caballero, "Coward! You're running away!" Toushirou bounded over to him, and likewise shouted, "Where is Karin? Where is she?" Caballero merely smiled down at them from the negación.

"Caballero!"

…

After an undefinable amount of time, Tatsuki had finally gotten the hang of meditating; Karin wondered if Caballero had put her there on purpose, to help Tatsuki. She then heard a clank, and the steel door opened to reveal a white figure, whom she assumed was an arrancar. The arrancar grabbed Karin roughly, unlocking her chains but subduing her in a different way, so she couldn't move. Having also heard the door open, Tatsuki also emerged from her state of meditation, and seeing them take Karin, struggled furiously against her chains.

"Let go of her! Where are you taking her!" Her arms pulled against the chains in vain."Karin! Karin!"

Unable to speak due to subduing spell, Karin could only look at Tatsuki, trying to convey with her eyes how important it was to meditate. The door clanged shut behind her and Tatsuki's screams.

…

…

A/N: Hmmm... I wonder who took Karin. :3 Muhahaha...


	14. Her

**Chapter 14: Her**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Urgh, yes. I'm FINALLY, finished with the battle scenes. YAY!

…

**Chapter 14**

Her

…

Karin found her body could only do involuntary functions; she couldn't move, she couldn't speak. She could only blink and breath. _'Well, I can think too… so I guess it's not all involuntary.'_

As one of them threw her over his bony shoulder in a fireman's hold, she inwardly sighed. She wouldn't be able to see where they were going. She would have pulled a face and squirmed, demanding to be let down immediately, if she could, like she had done with Toushirou. It pained her to think of the time that Toushirou had carried her back home, after she had defeated her hollow. What she would give to be at home right then…

…

In a playground nearby where the battle had taken place, all the shinigami were somber over Karin's disappearance. It was a playground, yet none of them played. Ichigo was taking it especially hard.

"I saw her. Caballero was holding her, I saw it." He agitatedly ruffled a hand through his orange hair.

Renji sighed and replied, "You've said that already. The question is… how? How did he hide her, in such a short period of time?"

"Who cares about how the hell he hid her? The real question is exactly _where_!" Ichigo shot back.

They'd had this same dialogue over twenty times. Not once did they come up with anything new.

Toushirou was completely and utterly silent, his face expressionless.

He was taking the Karin's disappearance almost as hard as Ichigo. Why hadn't he ordered the gikongan to restrain Karin and take her away to someplace safe with her twin in the first place? Why hadn't his thoughts reached that far? He should have foreseen that Karin wanted to face Caballero head on. Everybody called him a boy genius behind his back in Soul Society, so he had to live up to it, damnit!

Rangiku, with a bandage wrapped around her head, looked at her captain sadly. _'He thinks it's his fault,'_ she thought. The wounds from Hinamori Momo were just beginning to recover after he had met Karin; he had barely gotten close to her before she too had slipped through his grasp.

With a tremendous effort, Toushirou shook himself free of thoughts of how he had failed to protect Karin. It wouldn't do to wallow in guilt; it would be useless to Karin. Instead, he forced himself to think of how he would rescue her.

So it ended up that Toushirou's thoughts were along the same lines of Renji's. The first step to finding out where Karin was hidden was to figure out _how_ exactly Caballero had hidden her. How… How had Caballero managed to hide her? His mind flickered back to when he had seen Caballero alone. That had been before Ichigo had arrived. Then, after he had freed himself from the rocks, he had seen Karin unconscious in Caballero's arms. But next time he had looked, Karin had disappeared once again, leaving Caballero alone again. His mind raced.

Then, to everyone's surprise, he spoke. "Did you really see Karin with Caballero?" This was addressed to Ichigo.

Nonplussed, Ichigo replied, "Yeah… I saw her at a distance."

At this, Toushirou narrowed his eyes, gears turning in his head. He could have sworn that she had _flickered _into sight. Did that mean…?

He had to be at least 90% sure in order to voice his thoughts, so he kept this idea to himself.

But after he had asked whether Ichigo had _really_ seen Karin, everybody, save Ichigo, looked at Toushirou pityingly. Looking up and noticing that everybody was eyeing him strangely, the subject at the end of many stares asked, "What?"

"_Did you really see Karin with Caballero?"_ To ask a question with such an obvious answer, he undoubtedly wanted to believe that Karin had somehow gotten away, Rangiku thought. With pity in her eyes, she patted him on the shoulder, "I understand, Taichou."

Toushirou seemed even more bewildered at this statement. _'Understand what?'_

Meanwhile, Ikkaku was talking to Ichigo with surety, "I'm telling you, Ichigo. She's obviously been taken to Hueco Mundo!"

Though it was hard for an outsider to tell, Rukia saw that Ichigo looked even more distressed at this. If gargantuan described anything, it fit Hueco Mundo to the tee. Just how would they scour that whole desert?

In answer to Ikkaku's assertion, somebody asked, "Has she been, though?"

At the familiar voice, all the shinigami turned around. There stood Urahara, in all his striped hat, cane, and sandaled glory (it seemed like he had left behind his white fan this time).

Ichigo leapt to his feet. "Urahara-san!"

Taking a few steps closer, Urahara answered the unasked question that hung in the air. "I had a bad feeling about today." His eyes swept over all the shinigami in the vicinity, lingering for a bit longer on Ichigo and Toushirou before he spoke again. "So Karin-san has been taken. And you have no idea where."

Temporarily putting aside his grudge against Urahara, Toushirou's answered quietly, "Yes." His clear blue-green eyes stared straight at Urahara. "Can you find out where she is?"

Twirling his cane, Urahara said, "I think I can, yes." He rubbed the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. "Give me… about three days."

Ichigo snapped, "Three days is too long! Who knows what they'll do to her!"

Quietly but firmly, Urahara replied, "Three days is the fastest I can promise to locate her. I may find her before the three days is over, but I can't promise, Ichigo-san."

With the meeting ending like this, all of the shinigami trudged back to where they were each staying.

…

Leaping up to his window ledge in shinigami form, Ichigo sunk back into his human body, when he heard a banging on his door. Usually the banging would have been Karin; his father usually just barged in and Yuzu just knocked. It must be one of the shinigami.

Tiredly, he sat down on the bed, saying in a muffled voice, "Come in…"

To his surprise, Yuzu barged into the room in tears. For a horrifying moment, Ichigo thought that she had found out about what had happened to Karin. But that couldn't be it; she should have returned and had her memories altered. He realized what it really was as she practically shoved a newspaper into his face. So she had found out about the next worst thing. He raked a hand through his orange hair.

"Onii-chan! Is this what you were trying to hide at breakfast today?"

He didn't even need to look at the article to figure what it was about. He knew it was about a certain Arisawa Tatsuki who had gone missing the day before. In the end, Yuzu's curious nature had won over her dislike of blood and guts, which Ichigo had pretended the picture contained to keep Yuzu from reading the article. She had looked at the newspaper after all.  
It was too much. Ichigo sighed harshly and put his head in his hands. Suddenly, he let out a strangled yell, causing Yuzu to jump in alarm.

"…Onii-chan…?" Yuzu asked timidly.

"Just leave me alone!" Ichigo shouted. "Everybody!" Looking directly towards the door where gigai-clad Rukia now stood, he shouted at her as well. "That includes you!"

As Yuzu backed out of the room, scared at her brother's outburst, Rukia reassured her with a whisper, "He's just stressed, with all the people disappearing, and everything that's happened. Don't worry. I'll take care of this."

Nodding tearfully, Yuzu scampered down the stairs. Rukia shut the door behind her as she walked into the room. Standing like a militant in front of Ichigo, she called out his name.

"Ichigo."

There was no reaction.

"Ichigo."

Though she said it more sharply this time, still no reaction.

"ICHIGO!"

This yell seemed to bring forth a reaction at last, though it wasn't one that Rukia wanted. "I thought I told you to go away." Ichigo said flatly, with his head still down.

"Not while you're in this state, I won't." Rukia replied firmly.  
She wanted to tell him everything would turn out okay, but she had neither the confidence nor the will to give him false hope; it would be too cruel. Though she drew breath to speak, upon seeing how vulnerable Ichigo looked, she lost the proper words to say. Trying again, she succeeded this time. "Ichigo… Nobody thinks it's your fault."

Quietly, he replied, "It _is_ my fault." His head was still in his hands. "Karin… even Tatsuki… What am I going to tell Inoue?"

Unable to answer, Rukia simply pulled him close, hugging him around the shoulders and bowing her head over his. After a moment, she whispered into his hair, "It's just a matter of getting stronger to protect those around you."

"It's been four years… why is this happening now…?" his voice cracked. It broke Rukia's heart to see him this way. His normally straight, proud back was bent over from the pain at the possibility of losing his sister and childhood friend.

After a moment, ever so slightly, Ichigo's shoulders began to shake. Feeling this, Rukia gently placed her hands on the sides of his head and made him look up at her. His brown eyes, for the first time she had known him, were wet with tears as he looked at her. Seeing this, Rukia held him close, stroking his hair as he quietly cried.

While Ichigo wept, Toushirou, lay on the roof, listening to something he didn't want to hear. Someone as strong as Ichigo shouldn't cry, he thought bitterly, holding his hands to his face. But he himself had once been on the verge of shedding tears. He had only frozen them before they could fall. With a sigh, he closed his eyes, trying to block out Rukia's whispers of comfort to Ichigo.

…

Roughly, Karin was thrown down on the hard floor. If Karin could have moved her facial muscles, she would have grimaced in pain as her pelvis, shoulder, and lastly, skull contacted the hard floor. Her arm was squished between the cold floor and her own unmoving body, and she was practically kissing the floor. _'Great.'_ Karin thought. _'Where have they taken me to now?'_

A white sandal stepped into her peripheral vision. Or who, Karin amended her thoughts belatedly. A blue-haired man squatted in front of her, raising an eyebrow as he examined her.

"Is this the girl?" He asked, turning his sharp-features to lookp at who she supposed was someone else.

"Looks like it." Another, deeper voice. "Her spiritual pressure is high, but it feels different from us and even shinigami. Definitely one of _them_."

"What are we doing with her? And why are we _here,_ for that matter?" This time, it sounded like a female.

"Dunno. Aizen-sama sent us here." The deep voice again.

The woman asked, "So we're supposed to take her back with us to go see Aizen-sama? What's the need to bring in _five_ Espada just for that?"

At the word Espada, Karin decided it was a good time to panic. Caballero was just one Espada, but _five?_ Why didn't she just ask somebody to slit her throat and let her bleed to death? It would be faster and less painful than five Espada toying with her.

"No. You are to take her to see _that person _first." This voice was rather nasal. From the positioning, Karin supposed this was the one who had tossed her onto the floor.

"You aren't in any position to order us around." The woman sounded dangerous this time. "_Numeros_."

The blue-haired man opened his mouth and objected towards the nasal voice, "Why the hell did you dump her on the floor if you were just gonna pick her up –" only to be interrupted by the female, the dangerous timbre now gone.

"Wait. Take this girl to _that person_… _that person_ referring to _her_?"

"I suppose so." The deep voice groused again.

"Are we really gonna answer to _her_ as well?" This voice, which Karin had heard for the first time sounded disgruntled. "She's just Aizen's puppet – "

"You are to refer to him with the suffix 'sama.'" The nasal voice, who had clammed up after the female voice had warned him, interjected again.

Sharply, the female ordered, "Get out. You've brought the girl to us, so your part is over."

"Yeah, before we use you as a sword sharpener." A new voice snickered.

Ignoring the exchange with the nasal voice (whom Karin assumed had now left the room since the door had creaked open and clanged shut) the disgruntled voice plowed on, " – infused with…"

"Shh! She can hear us, you know."

By 'she' Karin didn't know if they meant her or the woman she was supposed to be taken to see. Though the beginning of the dialogue had been rather easy to understand… Karin had not one iota of an idea of what the latter half was about. Who was _'she?'_

The blue-haired man stood up, saying, "Well?" He motioned with his foot towards Karin.

"Oh yeah, who's going to carry her?"

"What, you want _me_ to do it?"

"Yeah, make the _woman_ do it, that's real damn chivalrous."

"We're all technically dead. So is our chivalry."

Karin was starting to feel a bit annoyed. _'Yes. I'm just a burden that people – or arrancar in this case – don't want to carry. Perfect. What, do I_ look_ heavy or something?'_

The deep voice declared, "You do it. You're the lowest ranked out of all of us."

"What, _that's _your reasoning?" a voice – Karin had lost track who was who – questioned incredulously.

Metaphorically rolling her eyes, Karin thought, _'Or, you know, you could just release these bindings on me so I can walk by myself…'_

The blue-haired man's voice gruffly cut through the voices, "I'll do it, so quit your squabbling." With a grunt, he lifted her onto his shoulder. As they headed out of the room, he complained, "Man, she's heavier than she looks."

Karin felt indignant at this. Muscle weighed more than fat! And Toushirou had carried her without saying she was heavy even once!

"Don't be a wimp, aren't you a man? Muscle weighs more than fat, and it looks like this one has a lot of lean muscle." It was the female voice again. "What did she do, martial arts?"

"Well, depending on the martial art, muscle buildup varies…"

After a short bit of being jostled up and down uncomfortably, Karin was set down, face up, much more gently than before.

Now she had a better look at the people who had brought her to the room, as well as the room itself. As she had gathered from the voices, there were six arrancar in total. She wasn't able to see them properly, as she was seeing things from a worm's eye view. But she could tell the ceiling was even lower than the dungeon's had been, which she thought perplexing. From what she had gathered from the cryptic discussion, she had assumed that they were taking her to someone high ranked. Shouldn't this person have a larger room than a dungeon? _'Maybe I'm reading too much into things…'_ Karin mused, though she doubted it.

She was brought back to reality by a nasal voice speaking. "Ah, they've finally brought her to you."

'_Mister Nasal must have come here after being kicked out of that other room.'_ Karin thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, Karin thought she saw a thin figure with long brown hair bow to a figure seated on some sort of chair. Then the man came over, and with surprising strength, given his weedy figure, heaved Karin up by her armpits and dragged her over to that very same direction; internally, Karin winced. To have her whole body weight be held up by her armpits was not very comfortable, doubled with the fact that she was very ticklish.

She was curious as to who she was being held up to face, but her limp neck would not hold up her head so she could see the person in front of her. As if reading her mind, the blue-haired arrancar on her right roughly held up Karin's head by her chin. What Karin saw confused her.

What she saw was a young woman – or girl, rather since she looked around Karin's age or a bit older – sitting in front of her. Her wide brown eyes looked innocent, and black hair framed her face. Her mask wasn't visible and her hole was hidden underneath the standard white arrancar hakama she wore. She reminded Karin of Yuzu, not only because of her innocent appearance, but also her general warm atmosphere. She even felt spiritually different from the arrancar around her. But when she opened her mouth, instead of a sweet voice like Yuzu's, what came out was a monotone voice.

"Is she an experiment that succeeded?"

The scrawny brown haired arrancar Karin had dubbed Mister Nasal replied greasily, "Yes, my lady." He continued, "And the other one down in the dungeons looks as if she may yet succeed. But the chances are slim."

So the girl before her knew about the hollowfication experiments, maybe was even behind them; clearly, looks were deceiving. Angry, but with no way to show it, Karin tried to silently convey with her eyes that she wanted to be released from her frozen state. As if she understood, the girl in front of her said, "Please release her." It might have been this request making her biased, but listening again, Karin thought she heard traces hinting at how the currently monotone voice might once have been sweet.

Suddenly, Karin could move. Falling to her knees, Karin gasped at the onset of movement that she was capable of once again.  
As soon as she had overcome the sensation, she tried to stand of her own volition, but hands behind pushed her down once more into a kneeling position. Raising her head up, Karin looked furiously up through her bangs at the arrancar.

The curiously monotone voice spoke again. "Please, let her stand up. She can do nothing against so many."

This was true, Karin thought sourly. She hadn't even managed to last five minutes against Caballero; what could she do against six – no, seven, counting the seated girl – arrancar?

As the hands let go of her shoulders, Karin clumsily got to her feet. Her whole body tingled like it was asleep. Inside, Karin cursed at her relative lack of motor control. But after being paralyzed for so long, it should be obvious her movements would be hindered. The girl in front of her must have realized that, Karin thought.

The seated girl looked Karin in the eyes before asking, "What is your name?"

Pursing her lips, Karin replied more boldly than she felt, "Kurosaki Karin. Who are you?" Karin thought she felt a twitch from her right side at this declaration. The brown haired arrancar behind her cuffed her head hard. Karin turned around to glare at him.

Ignoring the question directed towards her, the seated girl thoughtfully repeated, "Kurosaki Karin…" It was as if she were trying to remember something,

At the lack of an answer, Karin temper finally snapped. "Oi! Don't ignore me! I asked you who you - " The scrawny brown-haired arrancar whom Karin dearly wanted to slap around cuffed her again.

But the girl turned away from her and said, "Please take her away. I want to sleep now, and I don't think I can do so with her noise."

At this, Karin was taken a hold of and dragged out of the room by a pair of very strong arms that belonged to the female arrancar, who had white hair and purple eyes. She struggled to no avail.

"Where are you taking me? Let go!"

Mister Nasal trotted behind them and said snottily, "You should be honored that you've met her directly face to face."

She heard a snort from a tall figure with his blonde hair in a buzz cut. Apparently Mister Nasal heard it too, as he whirled around and shouted, "Titiritero-sama, did you just - " his words were cut short by a red blast to his head.

The lady arrancar, moved aside hastily as his corpse fell to the floor before Karin's now saucer-sized eyes. At this display, Karin decided to just shut up. For now, anyways.

Letting Karin go to slap the invisible dust off her white hakama, the woman commented, "Jeez 'Tero, can't you lengthen that temper of yours just a little? He was _her_ favorite."

"All the more reason." was the blonde man's curt reply. He ducked into a hallway that had stairs leading up, and Karin saw that his hollow mask was on the back of his head, with the jaw missing. He threw back over his shoulder, "I'm heading back to Hueco Mundo. See you later." He disappeared up the stairs.

An arrancar with a white web-like forehead plate underneath long maroon bangs and matching maroon eyes looked down at the headless corpse with disgust. "Good riddance. He got on my nerves." He sounded like the deep voiced man that Karin had heard earlier.

The blue-haired man who standing beside Karin muttered, "I would have made him suffer more."

The helmeted arrancar interjected, "Wrong, _I_ would have made him suffer more, if you remember my resurrecion."

The lady arrancar just shook her head and changed the subject. "Who's going to give me a hand with this girl? Tartarus?"

The helmeted arrancar, who seemed to go by the name Tartarus, answered, "What, is it because I'm the lowest ranking Espada out of all of you guys again? I'll have you know that I still have three Espada ranked lower me."

"Doesn't change the fact that you're the lowest currently present, _septimo_."

The maroon haired man cut in, "You can fully handle her yourself, Opaco. Look, she couldn't budge against your strength."

Yes. Karin loved to be talked about like she wasn't there. She considered running to prove that she could at least outrun them, but she wasn't even completely sure she could; besides, she was dead center in the circle of the four remaining Espada.

Unexpectedly, the blue-haired man volunteered. "You guys go ahead. I'll take her back."

All the Espada looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you being so docile, Grimmjow?"

"Yeah. You'd usually go on ahead yourself, leaving us to do the work."

Looking annoyed, Grimmjow shrugged. "Maybe I'm in a good mood." His eyes glinted, "but it probably won't last long. Would you like to test how long it'll last?"

Though this thinly veiled threat seriously alarmed Karin (and the helmeted man, it seemed), the other two looked on unruffled.

"Well, then, we'll leave this to you."

Grimmjow said carelessly, "Scram before I decide to take over the Tercera Espada position."

The maroon haired man laughed. "You wish."

"Shut up, Marrón."

Opaco pushed Karin over to Grimmjow, laughing as well. "You may have been an Espada longer than us, Grimmjow, but we can beat you any day."

With a feral snarl, Grimmjow replied, "Only if you go at it two on one." As if to vent his anger, he caught Karin's arm in a painful grip. Her face contorted. "Uhm… can you loosen the grip on my arm…? Mister…" She gasped out.

Opaco, Marrón, Tartarus turned and went up the stairs, the staircase ringing wiht their respective tinkling, dark, and raucous laughter.

As soon as the three had disappeared, Grimmjow exhaled. He abruptly let Karin go, and she stumbled, holding onto the arm he had held, now asleep because of the lack of blood circulation. As she shook it out and turned to face him, he asked an unexpected question.

"Why the bloody hell d'you go and get yourself caught for?"

…

…

A/N: Yes, I ran out of ideas and resorted to greek names instead of Spanish ones. Cut me some slack, I had to create nine whole characters, not counting Mirra.

Return of the arrancar profiles! Though this time it is the Espada profiles. All bolded things are what's new. ^^

…

**Name: Titiritero por el Alambre (Pupeteer by wire)** (nickname: 'Tero) Blonde hair and blue eyes, [has a short fuse =_=]

**Rank: 1st Espada**

**Mask remnant: Upper half on the back of head**

**Zanpakutou: Unknown**

**Resurrecion: Unknown**

…

Name: Caballero Sonriete Asesino (Gentleman Smiling Assassin)

Rank: 2nd Espada

Mask Remnant: Monocle

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

**Name: Marrón Araña (Maroon Spider) **Maroon hair with maroon eyes

**Rank: 3rd Espada**

Mask Remnant: Spiderweb-shaped on forehead

Zanpakutou: Unknown

**Resurrucion: Unknown**

…

**Name: Opaco Medusa Gorgon (Opaque Jellyfish)** purple eyes white hair

**Rank: 4th Espada**

**Mask Remnant: Teeth along her collarbone**

**Zanpakutou: Unknown**

**Resurrecion: Unknown**

…

Name: Serpiente Estrangulador (Serpent Strangler)

Rank: 5th Espada

Mask Remnant: Fangs

Zanpakutou: Látigo (whip)

Resurrecion: Muerde (bite)

Resurrecion Effects: Mask turns into a hood (as in cobra) and sword turns into whip

...

**Name: Grimmjow Jaegerjaques**

**Rank: 6th Espada**

**Mask Remnant: Skeletal right jaw**

**Zanpakutou: Pantera (panther)**

**Resurrecion: Kishire**

…

**Name: Tartarus Sofocación (Darkness Suffocation)**

**Rank: 7th Espada**

**Mask Remnant: helmet**

**Zanpakuto: Unknown**

**Resurrecion: Unknown**

…

Name: Sarcofago Hablar (Sarcophagus Speaking) **[deceased]**

Rank: 8th Espada

Mask Remnant: Around his face

Zanpakutou: Ataúd, (coffin)

Attacks: Entiérrelo (bury him), Arqueta (casket/coffin), Lanz de la Piedra (Spear of stone)

Resurrecion: Esfinge

Resurrecion Effects: Lower torso turns into lion, sword turns into diamond lance

...

Name: Clara Luz (Clear Light) [Clara derived from Claro (clear)]

Rank: 9th Espada

Mask Remnant: Starburst-shaped tiara in her hair

Zanpakutou: Unknown

Attacks: Grillos de la Luz (shackles of light)

Resurrecion: Unknown

...

Name: De-Pie Pescados [Standing Fish]

Rank: 10th Espada

Mask Remnant: Headband of little overlapping bones

Zanpakutou:

Resurrecion: Cutáneo

Resurrecion Effects: Mask stretches into fish tail, entire body of steel (Partial Resurrection: body of steel on whatever touches salt water) sword turns into trident.


	15. Debt

**Chapter 15: Debt**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Thanks for 100+ reviews! :D

Also: I wrote this when Ichigo didn't know his dad was a shinigami yet... So yeah. Keep that in mind while you read the whole story.

…

**Chapter 15**

Debt

…

"Why the bloody hell d'you go and get yourself caught for?"

Karin was taken aback by the question. It almost seemed as if he didn't want her to have been caught. But that couldn't be it, could it? Why would an arrancar care?

But back to his question. Did he honestly think it had been her _choice _to get caught? Briefly forgetting that she was talking to an Espada due to these thoughts, Karin put her hands on her hips as she sarcastically said, "Oh yes, I really wanted to be locked up here, frozen, then tossed around among arrancar then taken to see a strange woman. That's my idea of paradise, it is_._"

Grimacing, Grimmjow slapped his forehead. "Oh yeah, you're the one alright. Got the same smartass mouth."

"Sorry,_ Mister_, but do I know you?" She sure as hell didn't, but it was a rhetorical question.

Looking irritated, Grimmjow growled, "For fuck's sake, don't call me 'mister!' It's Grimmjow! And no bloody '-san' either! You Japanese folk are all polite, but I don't _do _polite." He cast Karin a dirty look and continued, "And I don't know whether you know me, but I sure as hell know your brother."

Caught off guard, Karin blinked at this. "You… know Ichi-nii?"

"Is _that_ what you call him? 'Ichi-nii?'" he eyed her incredulously. At his reaction, Karin was seriously tempted to call him 'Grimm-nii' but her sense of self-preservation told her it was a bad idea. Unaware of the thoughts going through Karin's head, Grimmjow continued, "Yeah, I know Ichigo."

Furrowing her brow, Karin asked, "But… how do you know him? By fighting him?"

"Yeah." Grimmjow answered without hesitation. As he turned, his jacket flew up and Karin glimpsed a tattoo of a number 6 on his back. The font of the number was somewhat familiar…

**Flashback**

"_The Segundo Espada, Caballero Sonriete Asesino*, at your service."_

_He placed a hand over his heart and bowed, the epitome of a perfect gentleman. As he bowed, Karin glimpsed the number 2 was tattooed on the back of his ungloved right hand. She thought to herself, 'So that's what Segundo means."_

**Flashback End**

This arrancar's rank among the Espada was number 6. Suddenly, Karin became acutely aware of the fact that she was talking to somebody of similar caliber of strength as Caballero. Backing up, Karin prepared to crouch into a defensive position any moment as she asked, "So are you going to kill me?"

Looking at her as if she was crazy, Grimmjow questioned, "What would I do that for? If I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have done it long ago."

Realizing that what he said was true, Karin reluctantly rose from her guard.

Sauntering down the hallway, he threw back at her, "And your defense is full of holes, by the way."

Though she resented that, Karin knew that he was probably right. Caballero had mentioned the same thing when they'd first met. Karin had to trot to catch up to Grimmjow's longer legs. "How do I know if I can trust you?"

His teal eyes looked disgustedly at her. "Trust? Why on earth would you do a thing like that?" Obviously, he didn't trust anyone. "Trust me, the only thing you can trust in is yourself."

Karin held back a snicker at the juxtaposition in his sentence. "Trust you? But you yourself just said the only person to trust in is himself."

"Augh! That was just a form of speech!" He raked a hand through his blue hair as he muttered darkly, "If I didn't owe Ichigo, I'd…"

Owe Ichigo? Though she was curious, Karin pretended to not have heard the last thing he said about owing her brother. If she asked, he might just ignore the debt to her brother and go ahead and kill her.

Karin examined the situation at hand. Grimmjow seemed like a straight-forward (or rather a really, really, dangerously, if-I-don't-like-you-I'll-punch-your-face-in type of honest) guy. So he must be the same type as her brother, who didn't say things he didn't mean. She took that as a sign that it was okay to trust him (even if he himself said not to trust anybody; that just seemed to be his mindset. She didn't blame him. Considering his origins, it was understandable.)

After a moment of silence punctuated by echoing footsteps, Grimmjow asked, "Who the hell brought you here anyways?"

Karin's face turned grim. "Caballero."

Grimmjow gave a low whistle as he began to saunter down the hallway. "Aizen sent the goddamn 'gentleman?' He must have wanted you pretty badly."

That reminded Karin. "Who is this Aizen anyways?"

"An ex-shinigami." Grimmjow spat out the word 'shinigami.' Karin got the strong feeling that Grimmjow didn't like shinigami. Which was pretty unsurprising, him being a hollow himself. "He's the leader of the arrancar, and more powerful than all of us." He said the last part reluctantly and began to pick up his pace.

Speeding up to a slight jog to keep up with him, Karin continued to interrogate him. "Where is this place, anyways?"

"Underground."

That wasn't good enough for Karin. She probed, "_Where_ underground?"

"Human world." He grunted.

"And where is this Hueco Mundo?"

"Our home." was the short answer.

"And who was –"

He suddenly wheeled around so they were nose to nose, and asked her dangerously, "Do I _look_ like your encyclopedia?"

Intimidated, Karin mutely shook her head at this, and he turned around again and started walking again.

Karin sighed. Just another man to add to the list of men she knew who were very frugal with their words.

She could now tell just by his gait that his fuse had been getting rapidly shorter and shorter with every question she asked, so she decided against questioning him any further. For the time being, at least.

They finally arrived at the dungeon she had previously been locked in, and as she reached out to turn the doorknob, Karin realized that they didn't have the key. Though briefly dismayed, she quickly remembered that there was another way to open the door. Well, not so much as to _open_ than _crush_.

Packing spiritual pressure into her fist and taking down the door. Literally. She didn't know if it would work as well as it did on stone, but tried anyways. As Yoruichi had taught her in the short time span that they had trained together, Karin instinctively focused spiritual energy into her fist and slammed it into the door. The iron door crumpled like foil.

"That worked better than I thought." Karin remarked.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. "Overkill, don't you think?"

Sparing him a disparaging look, Karin ran beyond the crushed door, Karin saw Tatsuki had heard them break through the door and was looking up at Karin.

"Tatsuki!"

Sounding faint, Tatsuki said, "Karin… You're safe."

Nodding, Karin replied, pulling futilely at Tatsuki's chains, "Yeah." Looking at Tatsuki and the pins holding down her messy hair, Karin asked shrewdly, "Can I borrow a hairpin?"

Tatsuki nodded, and Karin immediately plucked a hairpin from her hair. After a beat, Tatsuki asked, "Care to explain why?"

"To get these chains off. Hold still while I pick the – Hey!" She was interrupted by an extreme clinking sound.

Tatsuki had intentionally rattled the chains, to prevent Karin from inserting the pin into the lock. With considerably more force than before, Tatsuki said fiercely, "Don't! I might still hollowf - "

Karin scowled at her. "Don't even think about it. It's not going to happen."

"As touching as this reunion is, I don't think we have much time to escape… This place is like a second base to Arrancar." Grimmjow drawled from the doorway.

Both the girls looked shocked at this.

"You're going to help us?" Karin asked, meanwhile taking advantage of Tatsuki's surprise to insert the hairpin into the lock, while Tatsuki simultaneously exclaimed to Karin, "He's with you?"

Taking a step closer, Grimmjow said, "It's not like I have a choice, with Ichigo being your brother and all."

Tatsuki looked absolutely bewildered. "Wait, what?"

Impatiently, Karin waved off Tatsuki's questions with an, "I'll explain it all later." Turning her back to Grimmjow, she widened her eyes and mouthed towards Tatsuki, _'This man is a minefield. One wrong step and…' _She drew a finger across her neck, the universal sign for 'be killed'. '_**Don't **__piss him off.' _She returned to working on the shackles, twisting the pin back and forth.

Tapping his foot Grimmjow commented sarcastically, "Sometime this century would be nice."

When the hairpin broke from her excessive movements, Karin became frustrated, throwing down the broken half that remained in her hand. "_Why _won't this hairpin work? It worked fine in the movies!"

She heard a snort from behind her at this. Ignoring Grimmjow, she continued to fumble with the chains. But she heard the distinctive sound of metal scraping against metal. She whipped around; Grimmjow had unsheathed his zanpakutou. She eyed the sword warily and said, "What are you going to do with that sword…?"

"What's it look like I'm doing? Move, unless you want your arms cut off."

Without further ado – barely giving Karin time to withdraw her hands – Grimmjow swung down his zanpakutou towards Tatsuki, who squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the sword to slice through her. After all, she was a danger to Karin. Instead, she felt her arms fall free, no longer restrained to the wall behind her. Tatsuki opened her eyes cautiously. She saw her hands free, though there were still shackles around her wrists, with several links attached.

"The shackles are still on your arms, but that'll have to do for now." Grimmjow said.

"Th-thanks." Tatsuki said shakily.

"You can thank me _after _you've escaped." Grimmjow snarled, shoving her out the door.

With Grimmjow in the lead, the three ran down the hallway, and up the stairs. When Grimmjow started using sonido, Karin grabbed Tatsuki and used her own flash step, Tatsuki's shackles clinking about.

Just before they reached the end of the stairs however, Grimmjow stopped dead. Annoyed that he had stopped, Karin irately started, "Grimmjow, what's wro – " The she saw through Grimmjow's hollow hole a figure approaching. Despite the ridiculousness of looking _through_ a portion of a torso where a vital organ should be in a human, she realized the precariousness of the situation. _'But Grimmjow is the 6th Espada. He's probably stronger.'_

Behind her, Tatsuki asked, "What's going on?" Turning around Karin put a finger on her lips, gesturing Tatsuki to be quiet.

"Well well well. What have we here? Lucky I came here straight after getting healed in Las Noches." The figure took a step closer. "Looks like I might have to turn you in, eh Grimmjow?" Then he took another step; he was now close enough for Karin to see through Grimmjow's hollow hole that though he had no visible mask, he had a hollow hole right on his diaphragm… and right below it, the tattoo of a number 5 was stamped clearly on the middle of his stomach. He was stronger than Grimmjow. Realizing how serious the situation was, Karin grit her teeth, praying that Grimmjow could talk his way through this. But _somehow_, talking didn't strike her as his suit...

"Suspicious, aren't we, Serpiente?" Grimmjow gave a feral grin.

"Yes, well, with good reason. Who are the two girls behind you?" The arrancar named Serpiente jerked his head in their direction.

Casting a warning eye back towards them, Grimmjow lied, "They're my women."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Karin would have snorted at this statement; Tatsuki _did_ snort. She had obviously not seen Grimmjow's warning glance. Grimmjow now shot Tatsuki a furious glare, for giving away his bluff.

Serpiente raised an eyebrow. "It seems that they don't think so. And the second one behind you has a mask forming… It can't be that you are jailbreaking the experiments?"

"What if I am?" Inwardly, Karin face-palmed at this likely fatal turn of the discussion.

Unsheathing his zanpakutou, Serpiente bore his fangs – Karin finally saw his mask – and disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, Grimmjow too, had pulled out his sword to parry the attack and driven Serpiente forward, away from the girls. Over his shoulder, he shouted at Karin and Tatsuki, "Go! I'll hold this guy off!"

Karin yelled back, "I'll help!"

Grimmjow shoved Serpiente's sword back, bellowing, "Your brother risked his neck to save mine, so I'm risking my neck to save yours and that girl's! Go!"

Still hesitating, Karin remained on the stairwell, but Grimmjow hardened his eyes and said even more fiercely, "GO!"

Swallowing, Karin nodded, and using the strength she had gained after defeating her inner hollow, she carried Tatsuki and flash step out of the area. In a moment, the only signs that they had ever been there were the echoes of the clinking sounds of Tatsuki's chains.

The 5th Espada hissed, "You think I'll let you!" and lunged after them, only to be blocked by Grimmjow.

Exhilarated with the anticipation of the upcoming battle, Grimmjow said, "I'll knock you off your high pedestal today." Cocking his head, he whispered ominously, "You see my blade thirsting for your blood?"

Hissing and knocking Grimmjow's sword away, Serpiente struck.

…

Panting from Tatsuki's added weight to her flash step, Karin wondered if she would ever find the way out. She had been running straight forward until then. Suddenly, Tatsuki said, "Left! Left at the fork here! I was conscious when they dragged me here!"

Doubling back and turning, Karin privately sighed in relief. Tatsuki knew the way out. From Karin's experience, Tatsuki also happened to be good with directions; an added bonus.

"Right!"

"Left!"

"Left!"

"Straight!"

"Right!"

Briefly wondering how Tatsuki could remember all those directions, Karin went right and saw a bunch of stairs leading up. Tatsuki, ever the human compass, pointed up the stairs, and Karin went up the stairs in accordance to her guide's directions.

When they arrived at the top of the stairs, what Karin saw turned her eyes into the size of dinner plates. (sorry, not saucers this time)

They had entered into what looked like the interior of a mansion. Gently letting Tatsuki down, Karin glanced around the mansion, taking in the tiles, the high ceiling, with double doors four meters high standing smack in between lavish twin staircases. In the back of her mind, she noted that her neck was already better. But…

"Where the heck is this? There's definitely no mansion like this in Karakura."

Tatsuki grimly replied, "Not Karakura. Not even Tokyo. This is somewhere in Kyoto."

Aghast, Karin exclaimed, "That's over two hours away by bullet train!"

As negative thoughts threatened to overwhelm her, Karin abruptly smacked both sides of her face (causing Tatsuki to glance at her, alarmed) to knock them out of her head. _'Get a grip, Kurosaki Karin!'_ she thought furiously.

Once she was able to think in a more collected manner, Karin said, "You don't have any cash on you, by any chance, do you?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Karin continued, "And you don't happen to have any relatives in Kyoto?"

"Also a negative." was the reply.

After a moment of thought, Karin decided, "So since we can't get out of Kyoto by conventional means, all we can do is hide out and wait for you to break your mask before we can hitchhike or travel by foot."

Wryly, Tatsuki said, "You say 'break you mask' like it's a given."

"Of course it's a given!" Karin snapped. Changing the subject, Karin informed Tatsuki, "We'll have to find a good place to hide. And once we do, I'm going to teach you how to hide your spiritual pressure."

Tatsuki sighed. "I love how easy you make everything sound."

"It won't be easy." Karin conceded. _'Especially since these days, I'm a prime example of Murphy's Law…'_ "But I have an idea. Have you heard the adage 'the darkest place is below the light?'"

At this, Tatsuki deadpanned. "You mean, the darkest place is under the lamp…?"

Karin waved off Tatsuki's correction. "Same thing. Point is, the enemy won't expect us to hide in the closest place to them: in this case, the mansion. It's just a matter of finding a place in - "

She abruptly stopped, as she felt several spiritual pressures approach. Apparently, Tatsuki felt them too, since she moved each hand to hold the chains attached to them, preventing them from sounding. The spiritual pressures weren't high, and Karin was fairly sure she could take them on one on one, but with Tatsuki at her side still in the midst of hollowfying, fighting them wasn't an option. And chances were, it would be three on one.

Karin repressed her spiritual pressure, pleased to see – or rather feel – Tatsuki do the same._ 'So she's already gotten the hang of it. That's one less thing to worry about.'_

Backing up into the niche of the staircase on the left, Karin motioned for Tatsuki to follow.

They were squatting under the stairs when the large double doors opened and three arrancar entered, one stretching and cracking his neck. Luckily, they headed straight to the left staircase, the staircase they were hidden under. They were about to head up, but then the one who had been stretching paused briefly to sniff at the air.

"Hey, do you guys smell that?"

"Hmm?" "What smell?"

"A really tasty kind of smell. Kind of like human. And hollow. In between, really, which is a mouth-watering aroma."

Karin and Tatsuki's blood froze. For one heart-stopping moment, he headed towards them. They both held more still than they ever had in their lives.

One of the other two arrancar scoffed. "Of course it does. They carried two hollowfying human prisoners down to the basement. One today, the other yesterday."

"Oh. That explains the scent." The arrancar sounded disappointed as he slinked away and up the stairs to catch up with the other two arrancar who had gone ahead.

As they heard the three arrancar go up the stairs, both girls let go of the breaths they had been holdinng. But in her relief, Tatsuki accidently let go of the chains that she had so carefully been holding. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Karin saw it contact the floor with a clank that seemed altogether too loud.

The three arrancar froze halfway up the stairs. They looked at each other, before dashing down the stairs. By then, Karin had already come out, instructing Tatsuki to remain hidden if she wanted both of them to get out of this mess alive.

Squaring her shoulders, Karin inwardly sighed. She really was the epitome of Murphy's Law. If anything could go wrong... It did.

…

Once the clock struck 12 o'clock, Yuzu alarm reached its peak and she went running to her father, whom she wasn't currently afraid of, unlike her older brother. She spilled out her version of the day's events to Isshin.

"Daddy!"

"What's wrong, Yuzu?"

She threw her arms around him and bawled, "It's been an awful day!"

Looking down at his most openly sensitive child, he asked her, "Why?"

"First on the way back from school, Karin-chan and I got separated and I had to come home with Toushirou-kun..."

Looking up at the ceiling as if he had x-ray vision and could see Toushirou lying on the roof, Isshin asked his daughter, "What did he do? Did he harass you?"

"N-no, no… Not anything like that, just the fact that I got separated from Karin when we were walking home together for the first time in a while…" She sniffed.

Sighing, Isshin silently thought towards Toushirou, _'You're safe for now. But when you ask for permission to date Karin, if you expect me to welcome you with open arms, you have another thing comin….'_

...

On the roof, Toushirou felt a sudden chill. Being an ice type user, he didn't usually feel the cold, but he shivered nonetheless.

...

Patting Yuzu's head, Isshin encouraged his daughter to continue. "Then? That can't have been all to make your day terrible."

Yuzu hiccuped, "Then I came home and looked at the newspaper that Onii-chan was trying to hide at breakfast today..." She teared up again, "And it said Tatsuki-chan is missing! And you know how people have been discovering bodies everywhere these days..."

Isshin became grave when he heard this. So this was what Yuzu had been so upset about.

"But - but...! Karin-chan still hasn't come home!"

Isshin had noticed this as well; he kept a strict curfew of 8 o'clock on his children (one that Ichigo had now graduated from, now that he was in college), and though at times Karin came in a few minutes past 8, and also occasionally slept over at someone else' house because of 'Soccer Night' (which was always held at a boy's house, much to his displeasure; he always told her sternly to sleep in a different room from those wolves and called their parents to make sure) she was never this late, unless she was training at Urahara's place. When she did, she had once even come in at three in the morning. And Urahara hadn't called him to inform him of Karin's training as he always did.

He had no choice but to ask Toushirou what taken place earlier that day.

…

As the three arrancar rushed towards her, Karin prepared herself, and met them with the all the force that she had met Yoruichi with. Without giving them a chance to draw their zanpakutou, Karin kicked and punched them with lightning speed. As she pummeled them even when she was outnumbered, Tatsuki watched with awe. First carrying the bigger and older Tatsuki, and now this... When had Karin become so strong?

Karin herself was wondering about the same thing as she took on all three arrancar at once. Granted, none of them were using their swords. She reasoned that they must be weaklings, as she gave a right hook to the one nearest to her, sending him flying. Spying a chance to take an unguarded arrancar's zanpakutou, she jumped up, and landing in front of the arrancar, pulled out the sword for herself. Then a thought occurred to her; she could focus her spiritual power to her limbs so why not weapons? Extending her spiritual pressure to the weapon itself she stabbed the sword right through arrancar that she had stolen the sword from. She felt a thrill of exhilaration when he collapsed.

For a moment, Kain's blood ran cold. Wait, a thrill? What were these thoughts crossing her mind? The adrenalin coursing through her blood was understandable, but the _thrill_? Was she having _fun? Fighting? Killing?_

Cursing, the other two arrancar pulled out their own zanpakutou and charged towards Karin, intending to take advantage of her distracted state. Understanding that she couldn't afford to space out at a time like this, Karin brought up the sword to block both of them at once. Gritting her teeth and throwing them both off, she slashed one. _'Two down.'_ She thought.

The last one saw that he had underestimated her and shouted, "Hienda, cuchilla*!"

***Hienda = cleave**

***Cuchilla = blade**

His arms turned into giant blades. He guffawed at her slightly surprised expression. "Heh, didn't expect this, did you? This is my resurrecion."

As she regained her calm, Karin's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, and I didn't expect such an easy win. Now your reach is much shorter than mine."

Flash stepping to behind him, she prepared to slice off his neck, when he chuckled and said, "Not so fast, human. My resurrecion also makes me faster and stronger."

He disappeared. But he wasn't fast enough to avoid Karin, whose eyes had been trained to detect much faster movements from her teacher. "Too slow!" she shouted, and leapt across the room to the arrancar. Karin felt something warm in the palm of her left hand and to her surprise, when she glanced to her left, she saw her spiritual energy glowing red and manifesting - albeit transparently - as a long, double edged sword. Hardening her resolve and wielding her two swords, she charged towards the arrancar.

As the arrancar didn't expect for a sword to appear in his opponent's left hand, Karin caught him off guard from his right, slashing him diagonally from left shoulder right hip. He fell to the ground.

Karin's sword evaporated as she landed softly on the blood-splattered floor.

...

Isshin climbed onto the roof, muttering something about being no longer at the age to be able to climb up roofs. He saw silver hair over the edge of the rooftop.

"I see you've taken residence on our rooftop." When he didn't see no hear any sign that he had been heard, he called out louder, something that he knew that the young captain would definitely react to. "Toushirou!"

Expecting a vein to pop out of the back of the young captain's head, Isshin was surprised to see Toushirou listlessly turn around. When Toushirou spoke, it sounded flat.

"I assume you want to know what happened to your daughter?"

Clambering over to the same side of the roof on which Toushirou lay, Isshin confirmed, "The black-haired one, yes. I know the brown haired one is still crying downstairs." Isshin know that it was below the belt to make Toushirou feel guilty that way, but he had to get the truth out of him. He immediately regretted it when he saw a shadow come over Toushirou's face.

Without a change of face expression, Toushirou said mechanically, "She was taken by arrancar on the way back from school." He could have said that the reinforcements had come too late upon the scene, and that the limit release had come too late, but those sounded too much like excuses. Hell, they sounded like lame excuses even to him. He should have protected Karin anyways.

When he heard this, Isshin was silent. It was just as he had feared.

At Isshin's lack of reaction, something inside Toushirou snapped. He leapt to his feet and shouted, "Say something! Aren't you angry? Yell at me! Punch me! I wasn't able to protect your daughter!"

With a voice that was quiet yet dark with anger, Isshin replied, "I _am_ angry. But not with you." He was angry with himself for failing to protect his own daughter, and at Urahara for failing to inform him of the small, _trivial _fact that his daughter had been captured by arrancar. Oh yes, he was angry.

...

Karin quickly ran over to Tatsuki. Helping her up, Karin whispered hurriedly, "We have to get out of this area; these doors seem like they're the entrance." Tatsuki agreed.

Casting a feel around for other presences, Karin felt two pulses of spiritual pressure way below them, which she assumed was Grimmjow and his opponent. The rest of the mansion held no spiritual pressure whatsoever. Gesturing for Tatsuki to follow her, Karin moved up the stairs.

She could wonder about the wave of bloodthirstiness she had felt during the battle later. For now, she had to focus on finding a safe place for both her and Tatsuki.

…

…

A/N: My longest chapter yet! What do you think? ^^


	16. Discovery

**Chapter 16: Discovery**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: I would like to thank: bloodyrose1294, MeteorLeopard, Iceflame55, Every shadow has its twin, Dark Inu Fan, sayo-chan64, and ShelbyQueen25 for your faithful reviewing!

And also thanks to everyone else who has reviewed, and all the people who put this story on their favs and alerts ^^

…

**Chapter 16**

Discovery

…

Karin and Tatsuki scuttled around the mansion looking for someplace to hide. They had gone down over ten long hallways, each with about twenty doors, but they all looked the same and far too obvious. They needed an unnoticeable place, like some sort of closet or storage room. The mansion was huge, but as all the hallways were made the same, they had little to no hope of finding a good hiding place. Looking left, right, even up and down, Karin searched for some sort of hiding place. She and Tatsuki had even tried opening some of the doors, but even the rooms all looked the same: square and unfurnished.

"Who lives in this undecorated mansion anyways? There's nothing here!" Karin said in frustration.

After forty minutes of wandering the mansion, Tatsuki had built up her share of doubts about the plan. Finally, she voiced them. "Uhm. Are you sure this is a good idea? You know, to hide out in the mansion. It's a miracle that no arrancar have arrived here yet."

Now taken to scouring the wall with her hands, Karin retorted, "Do you have any better ideas?" The sensitive pads of her fingers picked up an inconsistency on the wall, and she leaned closer to inspect it. She picked at the faint line in the wallpaper and frowned at it. "What's this?"

Ignoring Karin's discovery, Tatsuki said meaningfully, "Maybe it would be better if you just leave here _without_ me?"

Forgetting the crack in the wall, Karin turned around wrathfully and almost shouted, "We've been over this! I'm not leaving you, PERIOD."

"Well, then we'll BOTH die, and I'm not… " pausing to illustrate her point, Tatsuki punched the wall that Karin had been examining, "going to let that – "

She had no chance to finish the sentence, because the punch triggered something and a panel in the wall suddenly swung open, causing them both to fall in, turning 180º to snap shut - trapping them inside.

Rubbing the various body parts that they had landed on, they stood up, and promptly hit their heads. It was completely dark, and it smelled terrible.

"I can't see." That was Tatsuki, sounding like she was trying not to breathe in the smell. "But it seems like we've fallen into some sort of hidden passageway."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Rubbing the place she had hit her head, Karin sat down awkwardly and crossed her arms.

Tatsuki, on the other hand, went over to the panel that had eaten them up, careful not to bump her head against the low ceiling. She pushed, but the panel didn't budge. Drawing in a deep breath, Tatsuki punched the wall with all the strength she could muster without standing at full height. Still nothing.

"Sit down, Tatsuki." Karin advised.

Huffing, Tatsuki plopped down, and Karin yelped when Tatsuki's unexpected weight landed on her knees. "Ouch! Not on me!" Tatsuki immediately leapt up, hitting her head on the ceiling again.

"OW!"

After a few minutes of bodily struggle to find places in the pitch-black darkness they were in, the two finally sat down without bumping into anybody or anything.

"Okay, let's just explore… in the place we can't see…" It sounded stupid even to Karin, who had said it herself. To her surprise, Tatsuki agreed, "Yeah. That's a good idea. Maybe we can find another way out."

Groping around on her knees in the dark, Karin observed, "Feels pretty wide in here, besides the ceiling. I can't even feel the ends - " The malodorous smell grew stronger. Against her better judgment, Karin headed towards it. As the stench grew unbearable, Karin's fingers bumped into something. Running her fingers over it, Karin guessed that it was a smooth case. An unpleasant thought occurring to her, Karin tentatively tried to figure out the dimensions of the box. About two meters long… with the height and width a little over a half a meter… Yep. She had worked as a doctor's assistant, and there was no mistaking that smell. Making a face, she said, "Well, I have a pretty good idea of what kind of room we're in."

"Oh?" Tatsuki voice sounded nasal, like she was holding her nose.

"Yeah. We're in a morgue. For an unfurnished mansion, it's quite the discovery. I wonder if these bodies were the original owners of the mansion."

"_What? _A _morgue?"_ Tatsuki screeched.

"Mmm." Karin acted as if she were smelling something pleasant, like Yuzu's apple pie. "Smell that rotting flesh? Definitely a storage place for the dead. And I've just found a casket. I'll bet my teeth that it isn't the only one, judging from the smell." Karin betting her teeth was a big deal. She'd never gotten so much as a cavity in her whole life.

"Ugh… I feel like I'm about to be sick…" Tatsuki said.

"Don't… please… I don't think I can stand any more stink…" Karin groaned. It seemed like even one of Japan's strongest woman had a weakness: corpses.

But now that they knew where they were, Karin thought that it wasn't that bad of a place to hide. Besides the strong stench of dead bodies, Karin could also faintly detect the smell of mold. Which meant this passage hadn't been opened for some time. But breathing in through her nose made her feel ill, so she quit examining through her olfactory senses, and switched to breathing through her mouth instead.

Karin shuffled back over to where the stench was less pervading. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it. We'll just have to break out of here."

Tatsuki snapped what sounded like her fingers and exclaimed. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! You punched through the cell door, so you can punch us out of here easy!"

About to shake her head, Karin realized that Tatsuki wouldn't be able to see her do so in this absolute darkness. "No can do. Sorry."

"Huh? Why?" This time, Tatsuki sounded panicked.

Karin replied, "I think this'll be great incentive for you to break your mask for good. Break your mask and then break us out of here."

"I can't concentrate in this smell!" Tatsuki protested.

Feeling a bit guilty about pressuring Tatsuki, Karin continued nevertheless, "Too bad. I won't break through this wall, and you can't make me."

Hearing Tatsuki's defeated sigh, Karin smirked in victory.

While Tatsuki meditated, Karin would get to the bottom of what exactly had happened to her during her battle against the arrancar.

…

The next day, the breakfast table of the Kurosaki table represented the epitome of group depression. Silence reigned at the table, only broken by chewing sounds. Yuzu had puffy eyes from crying all night, and Isshin looked unusually grave; Toushirou knew why. Despite his normally enormous appetite, the young captain barely ate his food. Rangiku, the only liveliness the house could boast now, had gone to comfort Orihime about Tatsuki's disappearance. And then there sat Ichigo. Just looking at his food.

Unable to take the silence any longer, Rukia abruptly stood up, saying the perfunctory, "Thank you for the meal" and took Ichigo by the collar of his shirt and dragged him outside.

"Kgeh-! Can't… breathe!" He swiped his arm around. "Leggo!"

Once he had broken free of Rukia's grip, Ichigo pulled at his collar, gasping. "What's this about? I wasn't done with my breakfast!"

Rukia put her hands on her hips. "Liar. You were barely picking at your food, as it was."

Sighing, Ichigo said, "What do you wan… - Bwuh-!" Rukia had kicked him in the jaw, smacking him into the ground. Rubbing his jaw, Ichigo shouted at her from the cement, "What the hell did you do that for? What do you want?"

"What are you so down for?" Rukia demanded, crossing her arms.

Ichigo stood up, disgusted. "Did you seriously just ask that question? My sister is missing and it's going to take two whole days to find her. On top of that, Tatsuki's missing as well. And you're asking me why I don't feel like everything's peachy in this situation?"

"So? That means that you have two days. Two days to get stronger." Rukia replied, standing her ground.

Abandoning his sarcasm, Ichigo grabbed at his hair, as if to pull it out. "What if Karin gets hurt? What if they… they experiment…" recalling the results - practically equivalent to remains - of some of Kurotsuchi's experiments, Ichigo face turned pale.

Poking her finger into his chest, Rukia accused, "You just want an excuse to mope around. Well you have another thing coming. You're going to train!"

"What's the point?" Ichigo asked.

Continuing to stab his chest with her finger, Rukia raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you saying that you've gotten so strong that you no longer have to train? Then why was Karin taken?"

That hit the mute button on Ichigo. Satisfied, Rukia withdrew her finger and announced once again, "So you're going to train."

With who?" Ichigo sounded resigned.

"With me." Said a cool voice. "With all the captains."

"Toushirou." "Hitsugaya-taichou." Ichigo and Rukia simultaneously said.

Toushirou stood there in shinigami form, having sent his gikongan-filled gigai to go to school with Yuzu.

He continued, "I've already called the other reinforcements and agreed to meet up at Urahara's."

He turned and started walking away, saying scornfully, "I understand if you choose to be a weak coward and just go back to your University classes."

At this, Ichigo's temper flared, and running forward, he grabbed Toushirou by the shoulder and roughly took ahold of him by his captain haori's collar. "Say that again. What did you call me?" He shook the smaller shinigami.

Enunciating the words in an exaggeratedly slow manner, Toushirou repeated, "Weak. Coward."

Rukia tightened her lips, nervous. It seemed that the cornered Ichigo would finally snap. She knew that Toushirou was trying to get him riled up on purpose, but at this rate, he would really push Ichigo over the edge. Then Ichigo raised his fist. For a moment, it did seem that Ichigo's fist would fly towards Toushirou's face. Then Ichigo lowered his hand. Abruptly shoving Toushirou away, he said, "Shut up."

Putting the hand to his pocket, he pulled out his shinigami representative badge and thrust it into his chest. As Ichigo's soul shot out of his body, Rukia belatedly ran forward to catch his soulless body.

To their surprise, he declared, "You're right, Toushirou. I am weak."

Swirling his zanpakutou into its bandages and latching it onto his back, Ichigo went forward with a new resolve on his face. "But I'll get stronger in the two days that I have. And then I'll prove that I'm no coward."

…

Several suffocating hours had passed in the stinky room, but Karin had made about much progress to solving the mystery of the reiatsu sword and her personality _issue_, as she had to figuring out how to lick her elbow without dislocating her shoulder. She had even tried to summon the reiatsu sword again, but though her spiritual energy gathered to her palms, it did not manifest in any form.

But Tatsuki had already cracked her mask twice.

Temporarily giving up on the two mysteries, Karin shook Tatsuki out of her meditative state. "Hey."

"Hey. Sorry, it's boring for you, right? Why don't we just use your powers to get out of here?" Tatsuki asked hopefully.

Wryly, Karin replied, "Nice try, Tatsuki. But no, I just thought that it would be good to give you some tips on how to break your mask."

This seemed to pique Tatsuki's interest. "Really? How?"

Karin started to explain her own experience of hollowfication to Tatsuki.

"When you meditate, you have to dive deep into your subconscious."

"…Okay. I've been doing that. Since that's practically what meditation is about in the first place."

Karin decided that before Tatsuki fought her hollow, she would have to know how to face what she was going against. "Well… first, let's teach you how to focus you spiritual energy into certain parts of your body."

"…How?" Tatsuki questioned.

At a loss, Karin wondered how to explain this. After thinking, she asked, "Do you know how to consciously feel spiritual pressure?"

"Yeah, a bit."

The 'a bit' part bothered her, but Karin had no choice but to take her word for it. As she herself had learned from Yoruichi's demonstration, she deemed demonstration the best explanation. But as this pitch-black morgue had serious limitations especially compared to the enormous basement that she had trained in (as it had no light and definitely no boulders), Karin could only hope that Tatsuki's spiritual detection technique was enough. She supposed that they could use the coffins instead of the boulders, but she was afraid of both the resulting wood splinters from the coffin and the predictably drastic increase of the odor of decomposing bodies. No. They would not use the caskets in place of the boulders.

"Okay, then use your spiritual detection to feel what I'm doing."

Flexing her hand, Karin focused her spiritual energy into it. "Do you feel that?" She asked. "I'm moving my spiritual energy into my fist."

Immediately, Tatsuki replied, "Yes. So that's just what you do?"

"Along with the attacking movement, that's the general gist." She struggled to find the proper words to describe the feeling. "Just concentrate on your fist and see what happens. If it works then you'll feel your fist get kind of... warm, is the closest I can get to describing it. Can you manage it?"

Karin felt a flare of spiritual pressure in reply. Though Tatsuki couldn't see it, Karin nodded in approval. "Now remember that while you meditate."

"Can I ask why, _sensei_?"

Ignoring Tatsuki's sarcasm, Karin decided to be honest. "Once you get deep enough into your subconscious, you'll meet your inner-hollow."

Unable to see in the darkness, Karin couldn't tell if Tatsuki's mask had started to form again. Testing Tatsuki's spiritual energy and deciding that it was relatively stable, Karin decided to take the plunge once and for all. "There, you'll have to fight it. And win."

She heard a sharp intake of breath. Now Karin felt Tatsuki's spiritual pressure grow more ragged; she was panicking. "Don't panic." Karin ordered, though nervous herself, since last she saw there was less than a quarter of Tatsuki's face left to cover. "You're a karate master. You have nothing to be afraid of. Don't you have plenty of moves on you? So just meditate."

Once she felt Tatsuki's spiritual energy calm down again, Karin sighed in relief.

…...

Instead of wasting brain cells and spiritual energy on figuring out the two anomalies that took place earlier that day, Karin focused on the two spiritual pressures moving way below them.

'_Grimmjow and… Serpiente, was it?, are still going at it.'_ Karin thought. She examined their battle as best she could from her current location. The two bodies of spiritual energy were moving rapidly, at some distance apart, which Karin assumed was because of their swords. Or weapons, she amended, remembering the transformation of the last arrancar she had fought. He had called it his 'resurrecion.'

She turned her mind back onto the battle. Closing her eyes, she found that though the darkness remained quite the same, the mere psyche of closing her eyes allowed for better focus. With her eyes closed, she could visualize the battle as forms of energy. Grimmjow's warped form had elongated… fingers? Claws? Whichever they were, he attacked with them. In return, Serpiente was lashing out with something long and flexible. Both sides' spiritual energies were considerably weaker than before, but it seemed like Grimmjow had used up more of his power. At this rate, the opponent would win. Karin grit her teeth, thinking furiously, _'Don't you dare die, Grimmjow! Just to repay a debt to my brother-!' _As if he'd heard her thoughts, just to spite her, Grimmjow's spiritual energy flared out all at once before dying out like a candle flame before a tsunami. _'No!'_

A sharp shattering sound broke through Karin's concentration. Then, she heard a harsh panting and a few hacking coughs.

"Tatsuki…?" Karin called out uncertainly. She only heard more coughing in answer. After a moment, however, Tatsuki said, "I'm fine."

"Are you bleeding anywhere?" Karin asked, worried.

"N..no..o…" Tatsuki sounded unsure, as if she were making sure of it herself. Then her voice became more confident. "No, I'm not bleeding anywhere. And…" Her voice turned into one of wonder, "my face feels smooth."

"You don't feel the terrible hunger anymore either, do you?" Karin asked.

Tatsuki's stomach growled. As she laughed sheepishly, Tatsuki admitted, "Not abnormally hungry anymore, no. The physical hunger is quite terrible, though. I could do with a good large okonomiyaki, with lots of sauce on top."

Ever the cynic, Karin contradicted, "As much as I'd like to eat okonomi as well, after we get out of this nest of vipers, we're going to have to go into hiding again. There's no point going back home just to get captured again.

"Oh..." Tatsuki wilted. "Then I'll just make a call back home and - "

This idea Karin also objected to. "No. That's also not a good idea. Using a public phone is just asking to get caught." It had been over several hours after they'd escaped, the arrancar had probably realized by now. Perhaps Caballero was out searching for them this moment. Maybe she was paranoid, but paranoid and alive was better than careless and dead.

"We can't hide forever!" Tatsuki protested.

"The only way for us to get home with a _remote_ chance at staying in one piece, is for you and me to get to a level where we can defend ourselves." She felt her heart contract tightly when she said this. Ichigo was probably worried to death about them. _Everybody_ probably was. _'If only we had another way of informing them we're safe...'_ But she shook the thought off. _'No, I can't get weak here.'_ She prioritized staying alive long enough to meet them first. _'Wait for me. Ichi-nii. Yuzu.'_ She squeezed her eyes shut. _'Toushirou...'_

Tatsuki seemed find this an acceptable answer. "Alright then."

"Then let's get out of here!" Leaping to her feet, Karin grimaced as she hit her head on the ceiling again. "Oww…"

…

Ichigo had gone ahead of the others.

"Go ahead to Urahara's. We'll handle things at your house." Rukia had told him.

Toushirou had likewise told him to go ahead. "There are three shinigami over at Urahara's place, so go ahead, every second gone by is a second wasted."

While the other two had gone to drag his body back, Ichigo went alone to the Urahara shop.

Upon arriving at the shinigami's mutual destination, Ichigo received an unpleasant surprise. He saw the back of a familiar figure arguing with Urahara with an even more familiar voice.

Ichigo immediately flattened himself against the nearest wall.

"She's my daughter! And you didn't think of telling me? First the hollowfication incident, and now this?"

"Now, now, we both know that the fact she was targeted wasn't my fault. She simply had ample spiritual power."

The man froze at this silent implication. With obvious effort, he forced himself to continue, "But that doesn't explain how you _conveniently_ failed to inform me that she was also being targeted by Aizen – "

"Shouldn't you have expected that? He's the one conducting the hollowfication experiments, after all." Per usual, the shopkeeper had his poker face on, revealing no hint of what he was thinking, unless you counted insanely happy, which he almost certainly wasn't. "Well, if you must know, the reason I didn't tell you was because you would have eventually found out anyways. Why agitate you ahead of time?" Having said this, Ichigo could have sworn that he saw Urahara's grey eyes flicker in his direction. He ducked again.

At this, the man yelled, "What kind of excuse is – " He stiffened, then turned around as if he sensed something. Though Ichigo had long since hidden himself, he hadn't done the same for his spiritual pressure, because he hadn't felt the need. But apparently he had found out anyways.

"Ichigo."

Seeing that he couldn't hide anymore, Ichigo came out from behind the wall. "Dad…"

Isshin sighed. Urahara, ever quick on the uptake, said brightly, "Well, I see you guys have some talking to do…"

Just as he was about to sneak off, Isshin said, "We'll continue this discussion later."

"Eheh…" Then Urahara crept off back into his shop.

Father and son stood in silence before opening their mouths at the same time. "Dad - " "Ichigo - "

They both stopped. Avoiding his son's eyes, Isshin said, "You can ask."

Ichigo shook his head. "No. You go first."

After a pause, Isshin said, "How about we take this somewhere else?"

Ichigo mutely nodded, and Isshin led the way into a nearby park. They sat down on a lone bench, looking out at the trees planted in an artificially straight line, as if they were soldiers in an army. Sighing, Isshin started, "What do you want to know?"

"I have no idea. There are so many questions in my head, like how you can see my shinigami form... But I guess I should apologize first."

Floored, Isshin made out a strangled, "What?" He had expected Ichigo to get angry with him.

"I kept things a secret, assuming you didn't know anything…" Ichigo said weakly. "I had no idea that you knew so much. It must have been painful to see me lie to you all for the last five years."

At this admission, Isshin fell silent.

"If that's the case, then I'm even more at fault. I've hidden things from you for your whole life. It's my fault that you and Karin were born with such powerful spiritual pressures in the first place."

This made Ichigo look at him. Seeing his son's bewildered look, Isshin looked amused. "Didn't you figure out from the discussion? I'm a shinigami."

There was a brief silence, before Ichigo burst into laughter. Clapped a hand to his forehead, Ichigo gasped out, "Haha… That's how it was!" After laughing like a maniac for several minutes, Ichigo calmed down, putting his head in his hands. Isshin seemed to understand Ichigo's odd behavior, because he looked unsurprised when Ichigo quietly said, "Damn you, Oyaji…"

Isshin did not reprimand Ichigo for cursing him. He would forgive him just this once; after all, he had wronged Ichigo so much more.

…

"HAAA!"

Karin punched through the wall, deeming Tatsuki still too weak from her inner battle. Light flooded in into the morgue, and the two girls stumbled out from the low ceilinged cage that they had been encased in. Gulping at the fresh air, Karin had never before appreciated body-decomposition-free air as she did now; it tasted like ambrosia compared to the stale, stench-filled air within the aged morgue.

In the light, Karin saw that Tatsuki was mask-free, but deathly pale. She offered Tatsuki her back, and Tatsuki reluctantly climbed on. It just went to prove how unwell she felt. Running while carrying the older girl on her back, Karin told her, "Make sure to repress your spiritual energy. We don't know – " She skidded to a stop as a figure clad in white staggered in front of them.

"And just where are you headed?"

His clothes were ripped and he was heavily injured; it was Grimmjow.

"Grimmjow!" Karin cried out. She caught herself from saying 'You're alive!" just in time; he would probably find that insulting. "How did you find us?"

"Stupid, I could feel the other girl's spiritual power leak all the way down to the lower levels." He swayed on his feet. It was a miracle that he had managed to travel all the way here, Karin thought.

Karin asked Tatsuki, "Do you think you can walk on your own?"

Forcing a grin, Tatsuki said to the younger girl, "What do you take me for? I'm not some weak woman who's got to be carried around. Let me down already. Besides, it looks like that Grimmjow over needs more help than I do."

Getting off of Karin's back Tatsuki first went over to Grimmjow who opened his mouth to protest, saying brusquely, "Complaints later. Explanations later. First we've got to get out of here." She put his arm over her shoulder, and Karin ran over to do the same. Though Grimmjow didn't seem too happy about this, but he had no choice but to comply. He wrinkled his nose. "Urgh. You both stink."

Karin resisted the urge to smack him over the head. As they heaved Grimmjow's dead weight along the passage to the stairs, an idea struck her. They could hide in Hueco Mundo! It was the very place that their captors wouldn't expect them to be. She turned to Grimmjow and asked him, "Where's Hueco Mundo?"

His sharp features arranged themselves into a puzzled look. "In another dimension... Why?"

"Can you open a portal to this other dimension?"

Coughing violently, Grimmjow asked, "What do you want to go there for?"

"Nevermind that now! Can you or can't you?"

Grimmjow in turn snapped back, "Of course I can! Do I look that pathetic to you?"

When Karin looked pointedly at his wounds, he muttered, "Guess I do look like shit." With some difficulty, he unhooked his arm from around Tatsuki's neck and drew a line in the air in front of them. Along the line, a black mouth-like thing opened up in front of them. "There. Good enough for you?" Grimmjow hacked out a cough; this time, blood came out.

Glancing over at Tatsuki, who gave a look that showed understanding about what she was planning, Karin led the way into the portal.

As they exited from the portal, Karin looked somewhat unsettled at the sight before her. "_This_ is where you live?"

Grimmjow gave her a bloody grin. "Home sweet home, eh?"

"Yeah. Sure."

They stood in front of a sea of sand.

…

…

AN: …This chapter left me dead tired… but it feels like nothing big happened in it… :[


	17. Bleeding

**Chapter 17: Bleeding**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Whoo~ 5 chapters in a row. (albeit a couple days in between) I'm getting better at updating this now, aren't I? ;] Let's see if this will last all the way until the end of the story.

…

**Chapter 17**

Bleeding

…

A desert lay in front of them. What looked like dry and shriveled-up trees sporadically dotted the sea of silicone grains.

As the portal slammed shut behind them, Karin gulped. She exchanged uneasy looks with Tatsuki.

"What'd you want to come here for, anyways?" Grimmjow asked.

Karin looked sternly at him. "Seeing as you betrayed your comrades for us, we couldn't leave you there to die, now could we?"

"Someone could have waltzed along and finished you off." Tatsuki donated her two cents to Karin's cause.

"So… I figured the least we could do is stay with you until you get better." Karin finished.

Grimmjow snorted at this, and winced as it aggravated his wounds. Leaning his weight more heavily onto Karin – to her displeasure – he continued to interrogate her. "And? Even Ichigo's sister couldn't have been altruistic enough to escort me back here just for that reason." Karin shifted guiltily as he continued coarsely, "Hollows and arrancar swarm in this place, so seeing as how you asked to come here, you can't have been too worried about someone coming to finish me off."

Grumbling, Karin finally admitted, "Well, we didn't have any mode of transportation, or any hiding place. So I figured the ideal hiding place would be where arrancar live, as they wouldn't expect us here… And you know this… land best." She decided to swallow the 'waste' before the land.

"Ah, so your true motives rise to the surface." Grimmjow sneered.

"Hey!" Tatsuki exclaimed defensively. "We're the ones trying to help you!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I wouldn't have these wounds in the first place if it weren't for you and Ichigo's younger sister!" Grimmjow shot back to her. "And I wouldn't have to be fugitive to Aizen and his lot." He complained.

"So… uh… do you have any place to hide out here?" Karin asked Grimmjow, anxious to get away from that particular subject. A hiding place was what she had been hoping for when she asked to go to Hueco Mundo in the first place.

Without answering, Grimmjow started heading towards a specific direction. But he made no progress, as Karin and Tatsuki held each of his arms. When he saw his supports weren't moving with him, he demanded, "Aren't you two my crutches? Move!"

Tatsuki said, "I think we would like to know just _where_ we're headed before I move."

"What, you expected us to go with you blindly?" Karin's sarcastic tone said it all.

`Rolling his eyes, Grimmjow said as loudly as his wounds permitted, "Good grief, this is why I hate women!" He turned his head to Karin. "Didn't you just ask me if I had a hiding place? Well, I'm going there, so I can hide from other arrancar since they consider me a traitor. You guys can stay out here for all I care." He tried to unlace his arms from their shoulders, but they held him firmly in place.

"You should have told us that before just heading over on your own!"

"Yeah, how were we supposed to know?"

The three started hobbling along through the sand in the direction that Grimmjow led them. After about thirty minutes of wading through sand with a heavy weight on her shoulders, Karin asked rather breathlessly, "How much further?"

"Wimp." Grimmjow said disdainfully. "Just a bit more."

"That's rich, coming from a man who can barely walk. Remember who your 'crutches,' as you so aptly put it, are." Karin had gotten a lot snarkier with him than when they'd first met. Maybe it was because he was injured and couldn't do anything to her, that she dared to annoy him, Karin thought.

Grimmjow stopped. "It's here."

Karin swiveled her head around, and saw nothing other than sand. There was a dead tree, but nothing else. "So… what am I supposed to see here? Is that pathetic excuse of a tree magically going to sprout up and produce a tree house?"

"Shut up. I'm concentrating." Grimmjow said absently. He nudged her to the right, closer to the tree. After they had positioned themselves, he drew a circle in the sand with his right foot, and trod on it.

A deep rumbling sound came from underneath them. Instinctively Karin leapt back, though unable to go as far as she intended, with both Grimmjow and Tatsuki in tow. Grimmjow made a pained expression and emitted a poorly suppressed groan as the movement jarred his wounds. Meanwhile, his two 'crutches' looked on at the scene before them with wide eyes.

Shedding sand everywhere, a large cube with a square hole rose from the ground. If it hadn't risen from the ground before their eyes, the girls might have not seen it, as it camouflaged perfectly into the sand. Then, a tall woman with long mint colored hair and a crimson marking splashed horizontally across her face emerged from the square entrance. She held a large plate in one hand and a dishtowel in the other. "Oh, you've come over for a visit – " she froze.

"N… Neliel…" Grimmjow made out. If Karin didn't know better, she'd have said that he looked almost relived at the sight of the female arrancar.

Seeing the two girls supporting a heavily injured Grimmjow, the female arrancar threw aside the plate and dishtowel and ran over to them, exclaiming, "What happened?"

With surprising strength, she took Grimmjow off their hands and supported him into the cave. "Jeez, you come over for the first time in ages, and you're all torn up? I thought I told you to buy a gift the next time you came! Did you come thinking that sewing you back together was an ideal gift?" Neliel scolded. Turning her head, she said over her shoulder, "You guys come in as well. It looks like you've been through quite a lot."

As soon as they went through, the square door sealed itself, and they felt a rumbling sound. "Don't mind the shaking. The Cubo* is just going underground again."

***Cubo = Cube**

Unlike the bare outside, the interior of the Cubo was surprisingly homey, with tasteful decorations: some paintings, a few poufs and a couch, a rug, and a king-size bed with plenty of pillows; even a glass table. Karin wondered where she had obtained all the furniture. Hueco Mundo looked like a barren desert to her. Were there other houses hidden in the ground as well?

"Sit down." The woman invited. Too tired to speak, Tatsuki merely nodded, gratefully sinking into an armchair. Similarly collapsing on a round ottoman, Karin looked on as the woman named Neliel cruelly tossed Grimmjow onto the large white bed as if she didn't care one whit about the blood smearing all over the bed, much less aggravating his wounds. Grimmjow groaned and cursed, "Damnit, Nel! I'm in this shape, can't you handle me a little more gently?"

"And let you get used to gentle treatment? Absolutely not."

"You're heartless!"

Gracing him a with a scornful look, she just left him there, going over to the small kitchen in the corner, calling back to the girls, "What would like to eat? Or drink?" Looking back apologetically, she admitted, "I'm afraid we don't have much. Food isn't very plentiful in Hueco Mundo, as human guests are a rarity."

Karin somehow doubted that there had been _any_ human guests to Hueco Mundo. That left alive, anyways.

"Is it okay to just leave him there?" Karin asked, referring to Grimmjow, who seemed to have finally passed out on the bed.

Amidst the clinking and rattling in the kitchen, Neliel answered, "Yes, he will heal on his own. If he doesn't make any progress by the end of today, I can patch him up myself." Coming back with a tray laden with three glasses and placing it on the glass table, she sat down on the couch and said, "It might taste a bit different from the water in your world, but try it."

Cautiously, Karin and Tatsuki each took a glass and sipped from it. The water tasted tangy and a bit sweet. After almost forty minutes of walking through the desert, it was a most welcome refreshment. "It's good!" They assured Neliel.

But Tatsuki seemed to be having some trouble holding onto her cup, due to her cuffs and chains.

"Now that won't do." Neliel bent down to closely inspect the cuff. After she had confirmed something, reached out and touched the cuff, which glowed brightly and disappeared. Karin and Tatsuki stared.

"How did you do that?" Tatsuki asked.

Neliel winked. "Trade secret." At their disappointed faces, she dropped the act and said, "Aw, I'm just kidding. Well, I have a special ability, to cancel out things with spiritual energy."

At their faces of awe, the green haired woman's face broke out into a grin. "That's one thing done." Clasping her hands together she continued, "Please excuse my manners. I haven't thanked you yet for saving that knuckle-headed savage," she jerked a thumb over to the bed, where Grimmjow lay, "over there. I'm Neliel Tu Oderschvank, and I give you my thanks for saving Grimmjow." Dropping her formal tone, Neliel added, "Just call me Nel."

If Karin and Tatsuki had entertained thoughts that all arrancar were wild and bloodthirsty, those thoughts went right out the window upon seeing this polite woman before them. It was almost as if she weren't an arrancar; except the horned mask atop her head indicated otherwise.

Quickly the two girls introduced themselves. "I'm Arisawa Tatsuki. Feel free to call me Tatsuki."

"I'm Kurosaki Karin. Just Karin's fine."

Upon hearing Karin's surname, Neliel's eyes widened. "Kurosaki? As in Kurosaki Ichigo?"

'_Man, Ichi-nii sure knows a lot of arrancar.'_ Karin thought wryly, nodding her head. "Yes. He's my older brother."

Promptly, Karin's head was hugged to Neliel's more than ample bosom, rendering her unable to breathe. Neliel squealed, "Like brother, like sister. You both saved Grimmjow!" Karin gasped for breath when Neliel finally released her and took her by the shoulders to look her in the face. "Oh, I can definitely see his face in you! How's he doing?"

"Oh, uh… fine, I guess. And I didn't save Grimmjow. It's the reverse, in fact. _He _saved us."

"You brought him back here. That's enough for me." Neliel then turned to Tatsuki, and asked, "Are you Ichigo's friend?"

Drinking from her cup again, Tatsuki nodded. Having finished drinking the water, Tatsuki put down the glass, adding, "Known each other since childhood."

Leaning back onto her couch, Neliel asked in a conversational manner, "So, what's the story?"

The two girls looked at each other. "It's a bit long…" Karin trailed off.

Neliel assured them, "We have plenty of time. I, for one, have nothing to do."

Tatsuki glanced at Karin. "You should start. You got hollowfied before I did."

Shrugging her shoulders, Karin tried to summarize, "Long story short, I got shot by a needle, and a hollow mask started to form. And…" She hesitated to say Toushirou's name, afraid that she would grow weak. "…a shinigami taught me how to meditate and I defeated the hollow inside me." Belatedly realizing that she may have offended Nel, Karin hastily began to apologize. "Sorry, I didn't – " Nel held up a hand to stop her.

"I know that regular hollows have litle to no self restraint. Arrancar are just hollows lucky enough to escape that and gain back their sense of reason. So you have nothing to apologize for. Please return to your story."

"It took me a week to defeat the hollow inside of me. Tatsuki did it within a day and a half." Karin said with a touch of pride for Tatsuki. Granted, she hadn't had such specific coaching from a fellow soul who had experience in the matter, but it was still impressive.

Nel looked fascinated. "That makes you both very peculiar cases, then. Go on."

"Afterwards, an Espada named Caballero came to get me." Darkly, she added, "And if not for Ichi-nii and the other shinigami, he would have succeeded." Turning to Tatsuki, Karin prompted, "I think the timeline dictates it's your turn, Tatsuki. How did you get captured, anyways?"

"I was on the way back from the dojo, teaching karate, when they got to me."

"Who did?"

"The long, brown haired man, you know, the one who froze you and took you out of the prison cell, got to me. He trapped me with the same spell, and took me to the mansion in Kyoto. Then the black haired woman came and injected me with something - "

Hearing this, Karin interrupted, "A black haired woman? What color were her eyes?"

Tatsuki looked surprised at such a question. Putting a hand on her chin, she mused, "I wasn't really paying attention to her eyes, but I think they were brown… Why?"

Karin's face expression darkened. So _she_ had been behind the experiments after all. Her fists clenched. "No. Nothing." She said quickly. "And then?" Primarily asking the question just to change the subject.

"First it just stung, but then there was excruciating pain. Then the mask started forming. I thought I was done for before you came." She gave Karin a smile.

Chin in her hands, the green haired arrancar asked Karin, "And how did you get to this mansion in Kyoto?"

"Yeah, well. The second time Espada came to get me, they successfully knocked me out, and when I came to, I was already in the dungeon with Tatsuki."

Here, Tatsuki took over. "Out of nowhere, she just told me to meditate. At first I thought she was crazy, but it turned out to save my life."

"Well, Toushirou always did emphasize the importance of meditation." Karin said Toushirou's name aloud without realizing it.

Tatsuki seemed interested. "Toushirou… You said that name in your sleep. Is he the shinigami who taught you…?"

Feeling her cheeks grow hot, Karin stammered, "I… I said that in my sleep? Wait, when did I ever fall asleep?"

"Not so much falling asleep as waking from it. You weren't conscious when you came, remember?"

Nel leaned her head in and said slyly, "Ohh~ my feminine sixth sense is tingling. Are you and this Toushirou lovers?"

Karin's cheeks flamed. "NO! N-no. Nothing like that."

Both women raised their eyebrows at this claim, in obvious disbelief.

"Huh."

"Well, if you say so."

"Anyways." Karin cleared her throat and continued loudly, "The guy who got Tatsuki, dragged me out and took me to five Espada… One of them being Grimmjow here," she nodded over towards the bed (the bed sheets already partially dyed in blood) "And four others… I can't remember their names, except for a helmeted guy named Tartarus. The others were a blondie guy, maroon haired guy, and a purple haired woman."

Nel looked grave at this. "The first, third and fourth Espada. Titiritero, Marron, and Opaco respectively. And Tartarus is the seventh." She addressed Karin. "Well, you're here now, so that can't be all that happened. Go on."

"They took me to see a girl. I think she was the one who injected you, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes. "There was definitely something strange about her. Even without the injection thingy. She looked kind of _dead _inside, do you know what I mean?"

Leaning back onto the couch and crossing her legs, Nel mused, "Black hair and brown eyes, eh? The description fits way too many people. Even you." She nodded at Tatsuki.

"Her hair was shoulder length and framed her face." Karin quickly recounted. "And she spoke in a monotone voice. She didn't have any visible mask. Does anyone come to mind?"

Shaking her head, Nel replied in a negative. "No. I don't know anyone who fits that description. Why don't we ask Grimmjow when he wakes up?" She glanced at Grimmjow's unconscious form. "What happened to him, by the way?"

Tatsuki answered this question. "He helped us get away. He was distracting another Espada."

"Mm. I guess he won, seeing as he was able to come back." Nel commented. "At least he was fighting for a viable cause this time. Other times he's just barbaric." She snorted. "Though I suppose that's his supposed 'charm.'" She made a face, making quotation marks around 'charm.' "Where did you break your mask, Tatsuki?"

"After Grimmjow let us get away, we hid in a," Tatsuki shuddered and swallowed before she said the word, "morgue. I broke my mask there."

A look of understanding dawned on Nel's face. "So _that's_ why you guys smell of… well, death. You're both free to use the bath. Speaking of baths…" She shot the oblivious Grimmjow a nasty look, "I think that guy needs one more than you guys do."

The two human girls suddenly felt very sorry for Grimmjow. "I suppose you should probably disinfect his wounds…"

"No problem. I can just throw him in a tub of alcohol." Nel said carelessly, getting up as though she were about to do exactly what she said.

The girls were alarmed at this turn of events. Tatsuki hastily said, "Well, we can do that when he's awake, right? When he's prepared, right? It would be rather unpleasant to wake up… stinging all over…"

Nel sat down again. "Point taken. So just _how_ do you break the masks, and defeat these hollows?"

"You kill the hollow inside your mind." Tatsuki said simply. Karin started to nod, but she abruptly stopped when Tatsuki's words registered in her brain. _'Wait… kill?'_

"You didn't just... drive it away?" She asked Tatsuki.

"The hollow said that if I didn't kill her, she would slowly take over me. So I broke her neck with a kick. She just lay there, and then went… poof." Tatsuki made a comical gesture to demonstrate. Giving Karin a confused look, she asked, "Wait, you mean you didn't kill yours?"

Numb, Karin shook her head.

**Flashback**

_**'Fine, I'll back off…'**__ there was a hint of a grin on the exposed quarter of her face, __**'for now.'**__ The sinister smile was still on the hollow's mouth as she faded and Karin's hands closed on air._

**Flashback End**

Recalling this, Karin's blood ran cold. The hollow inside her hadn't disappeared. It was still within her. A thought occurred to Karin. _'Was the bloodthirstiness caused by the hollow inside?'_ Was the hollow really slowly taking over her mind and body, as Tatsuki said? She suddenly felt filthy. Standing up, she asked Nel, "Can I take you up on your offer? Of taking a bath, I mean."

Nonplussed, Nel said, "Sure. You can even use the shower if you prefer. Bathroom's over there." She pointed to a room on her left. Examined Karin's face carefully, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Heading towards the area that Neliel had indicated, Karin said absently, "Yeah."

Once entering the bathroom, Karin closed the door and leaned against it. She took a brief look at the bathroom. Taking a deep breath, she stepped towards the shower. She usually preferred to shower rather than take a bath; showers felt like they washed and drained all her troubles away, while baths made her feel like though they washed all her troubles off, the troubles still remained floating in the water. Though in the end, neither of them really took her troubles away.

Removing the clothes that still reeked of corpses, Karin kicked them away as entered the shower. Turning the knob to warm, Karin twisted the tap that released the water and closed her eyes as the warm spray hit her face.

'_Where do I end and the hollow start? Am I even still really me?'_ As she was struck by these uncertain thoughts, she sagged to the floor, barely feeling the warm water that lightly massaged her back.

She slapped her face with both hands. _'I can't afford to get down because of this.'_ Forming her resolve, Karin stood up in the shower; she would make the hollow within her kneel down to her no matter what. If the hollow resisted, then Karin would destroy her.

…

In the meantime, Ichigo had finished talking to Isshin; now he sparred against his father in the basement of the Urahara shop. "How come I couldn't feel your spiritual pressure when it was this strong!" Ichigo swung Tensa Zangetsu ferociously.

"You were never that good at spiritual detection." Isshin replied, leisurely blocking Ichigo's strike. "And Urahara designed a special gigai that would block spiritual pressure."

The other shinigami merely spectated the battle.

"It's Ichigo's father, so he must be strong." Ikkaku rubbed his hands excitedly. "I wanna fight him."

"If Ichigo's the offspring of a shinigami, it's no wonder that he's so powerful." Renji said idly.

"By the way, Urahara-san, have you had any progress with pinpointing Karin-chan?" Rangiku asked, leaning on Shuuhei's shoulders, her breasts pressing into the back of his head. ("Ano… Rangiku-san…") Though Shuuhei protested, he didn't seem to mind all that much.

To Rangiku's question, Urahara shook his head. "I'm trying to track down her spiritual energy, but it's still a work in progress."

Izuru seemed interested at this. "Track down her spiritual energy? How, Urahara-san?"

Glancing at the platinum blonde shinigami, Urahara explained, "Everything leaves a trail, including spiritual energy. I took a sample of her energy when she stayed over here, so I'm using that sample to track her down."

While the two discussed several ways to track down shinigami, Rukia turned to Toushirou, who was observing the battle, and bowed her head.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou. Please allow me to receive your teaching!"

He raised an eyebrow.

Raising her head, she answered, "As Sode-no-Shirayuki is an ice-type zanpakutou, it would be my honor to cross swords with the wielder of the most powerful ice-type zanpakutou in Soul Society."

After seeing Rukia's resolve, Toushirou nodded, and drew Hyourinmaru.

…

When Karin got out of the shower, Neliel stood there, holding out a towel. "Wrap yourself in that for now." Wrapping the large towel around herself, Karin gingerly picked up her smelly uniform before Neliel led her to a closet that seemed to hold only white clothes. "Here are some clothes you can borrow too. They might be a bit big, but at least they don't smell." She winked as she left Karin to dress.

Shrugging, Karin chose a random white shirt and shorts. After dressing herself, Karin found the clothes indeed too big. The white shirt was extremely loose around her chest, as well as the white shorts that came down almost down to her knees. To amend this, she folded the shorts up to mid-thigh. After getting dressed, she picked up her uniform and tied it up, making a mental note to let it soak later.

…...

Grimmjow still hadn't woken by nighttime (Karin couldn't really tell as they were underground, so she just took Neliel's word for it).

Tapping her foot impatiently, Neliel said annoyed, "What's taking so long for his wounds to heal?" She crossed the room over to the bed where Grimmjow lay. When they heard a sharp intake of breath, Karin and Tatsuki both quickly went over to the over half bloodstained bed.

Karin's trained eyes immediately spotted the problem. None of the wounds that Grimmjow had sustained in his battle had crusted over or even remotely clotted. They were still bleeding, and at this rate, he wouldn't last to see - or sleep through - dawn.

Immediately, Karin's 'doctor's assistant' side took over. She questioned Neliel, "Do you know what's keeping these wounds from clotting?"

Neliel frowned and asked Karin, "Which Espada did you say that he had faced against? By any chance, did he have black hair and a tattoo number '5' on his sternum?"

Karin nodded and replied, "Grimmjow called him Serpiente."

Slapping her forehead, Neliel groaned, "Then it's probably because of Serpiente's resureccion's 'Sangría Eterna'*. It's a poison that keeps wounds open, so the victim bleeds dry."

***Sangría Eterna = Eternal Bleeding**

"Do you know of any antidote for it?" Karin asked.

Neliel shook her head. "The victims usually bleed to death during the battle. I've heard rumors that it wears off after a while..." she trailed off anxiously.

Karin said, "Let's hope the rumors are true." Taking a deep breath she exhaled. "Nel, do you have alcohol?"

Neliel replied in the affirmative, "I have antiseptic." At Karin's quizzical look, she said, "I've had to clean up his wounds before." Karin shook her head as Neliel went to fetch the disinfectant; these two seemed to share an odd relationship. But she could wonder about that later. When Neliel came back, Karin took the alcohol from her. "Can you take off his jacket and hold him down?" When his jacket was cut off and he was properly restrained by both Neliel and Tatsuki, Karin twisted open the bottle of antiseptic and poured it generously onto Grimmjow's wounds. As the alcohol dribbled down his sides, his body convulsed at the pain. Hearing Tatsuki hissing in sympathy, Karin explained automatically, "The wounds are too big to simply dab at. I've got to thoroughly clean the cuts not only to prevent infection, but for the poison that Nel mentioned." Looking up, Karin asked Neliel, "Is there any needle and thread available? Preferably silk or nylon. Scratch that, any thread is fine, so long as it's clean."

Neliel nodded, saying, "I've got silk. I've had to stitch him together before. Do you need bandages?"

Karin added, "And some towels and a bucket of warm water while you're at it. Sorry, but I'll have to do the stitching this time around." Karin nodded at Neliel's trembling hands. Looking faintly embarrassed, Neliel went to go get the said items. As soon as Nel came back, Karin took towels from her and tossed one to Tatsuki. "Clean up the alcohol. Careful not to touch the wounds." She got to work on the biggest wound next to his hollow hole, suppressing the odd urge to put a hand in it to see if it really went through to the other side. After mopping up most of the antiseptic, Karin asked Neliel for the needle and thread. Threading the needle, Karin thought, _'this would be easier with forceps...'_ and gently pinched the sides of his wound together, digging the needle into his skin. Grimmjow roared and sent out a red blast from his hand. Karin barely dodged in time. Alarmed, she looked behind her, expecting sand to pour in from the wall. But when she saw that the wall had only dented a little bit, she was surprised. With wide eyes, she asked Neliel, "Is he always like this when you stitch him up? What is that destructive light anyways? I saw an Espada take off another arrancar's head with it."

Neliel shook her head. "He was always conscious when I did it. It's called bala, a hollow bullet. I made the house bala proof." Karin made a face.

Brusquely, Karin ordered Neliel to restrain him lest he kill them all, and went back to her painstaking task. She was used to doing sutures with round needles and a needle holder, but as with forceps, she had no means to attain them. She managed to get half through when she was interrupted by another bala. Luckily, the suture hadn't moved or gotten too tight, and Karin continued to stitch. Clenching her teeth, Karin ground out, "Almost... there..." She tied off the thread and cut the string off with her teeth. "Next cut."

Nine hollow bullets and thirty stitches later, Karin tied off the last stitch. She sighed and blew at her singed hair. Of all the pain-in-the-ass patients she had treated in her life, this one had to be the worst. Talk about a violently unwilling patient.

Wiping off her sweat with her wrist, Karin dunked her hands in the now lukewarm water to wash the blood off. After she had rinsed off most of the blood, she took a towel and folded it, gently putting pressure on Grimmjow's now stitched-up wounds. She indicated for the others to do the same with the other three wounds - two on his left arm, one on his neck. Grabbing the gauze, Karin asked the other two, "Help me sit him up." As they had Grimmjow up in a sitting position on the bed, Karin began to wrap the bandages around his torso, tying down the towels to soak up the blood. After finishing up, they lay him back down on the bed, careful not to touch his wounds.

"Now all we have to do is wait."

…

…

A/N: Yet another chapter without much meat. =/


	18. The Meeting

**Chapter 18: The Meeting**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: I meant to write the contents of this chapter _ages_ ago, but I was always thwarted by the little details and ideas that kept popping into my head… Like getting trapped in a morgue… putting poison in Grimmjow's wounds… ;]

…

**Chapter 18**

The Meeting

…

While waiting anxiously for Grimmjow to wake up – if he could – the three were silently drinking (inferno) hot tea, their tongues scalded and their nerves on end. In order to break the tension, Tatsuki asked a question. "So how do you know Ichigo anyways?"

It worked, and the tension gave way to a discussion about Neliel's acquaintance to Ichigo. "Well, I was in my child – baby, really – form back when I first met Ichigo."

This declaration brought on a storm of questions.  
"Ehh?"  
"Arrancar grow up too?"  
"A baby? How did you grow up so quickly? The longest you could have known him is only four years!"  
Questions tumbled out all at once from Karin and Tatsuki's mouths.

Suppressing a smile from her amusement at their curiosity, Neliel explained, "I didn't exactly grow up, per say. I just reverted to my original form, back when I had been the Tercera Espada."

This statement brought forth a whole new torrent of questions.  
"Original form?"  
"You were an Espada?"  
"Where's your tattoo?"

Unable to help but laugh at the barrage of questions, Neliel grinned widely and answered the last question first. "My tattoo is on my back. But I lost my position after I was… tricked." The grin shrank momentarily, but she hitched it back on again. She tapped the skull mask perched on her hair. "Thanks to that, my mask had a crack in it, and I reverted to a child because my spiritual energy was leaking out from the gap in my mask. I suppose I should count my lucky stars that my mask didn't split completely though, because hollows die if their masks are broken completely."

Karin looked at the mask and didn't see any crack in it. But she supposed that she would hear of how it got healed, if she continued listening to Neliel's story.

Seeing the wide eyes of her audience (despite the small fact that the 'audience' was comprised of two human girls), completely engrossed by her story, Neliel held back another smile of pleasure. "When Aizen kidnapped Orihime for her powers…" (Hey, you know Orihime too?) Neliel paused for dramatic effect. "Ichigo and his friends came to rescue her." After taking another sip of tea, she dropped the dramatic manner and continued more candidly, "I met him and his comrades when they were on their way to Las Noches."

Las Noches… tilting her head to the side, Karin tried to recall where she had heard that term before. Noticing this, Neliel explained, "Las Noches is the original base for Aizen's arrancar, though I've heard he attained another one in the human world."

Though Karin also wanted to ask what powers Orihime had for the arrancar to target her, she lost her chance as Neliel continued, "After Ichigo duked it out with Grimmjow," she half-glanced at Grimmjow here, "Nnoitra – the fifth Espada at the time – came and tried to kill Grimmjow and your brother. Then I returned briefly to this form, in my desperation to help Ichigo. I turned back to a child just before the battle finished, though, so I don't remember much of the battle that took place afterwards." She looked down at her teacup and took another sip from it, then finding it to have cooled sufficiently, braved a large gulp. Staring down into her half-empty cup, she continued quietly, "But I remember in the end, Nnoitra was killed by another shinigami." She looked up and gave them a bittersweet smile. "Though he was degenerate, in many ways he was just another person to be pitied."

Smile turning bright, she turned to a more pleasant vein of discussion, "Afterwards, Orihime came back and healed my mask for me, and I was able to return to my original form."

"How did you quit? Being an Espada, I mean." Tatsuki inquired.

A shadow cast over Neliel's face once again. "You can't just _quit_ being an Espada of your own will, unless you intentionally mutilate yourself, to reduce your fighting ability. Even then, you'll just be demoted."

Karin asked curiously, "Then how did you stop being an Espada? You don't look particularly mutilated to me."

"I escaped." Neliel said simply. As both the girls' mouths fell agape Neliel shrugged. "That's why I'm hiding out here. The arrancar are often sent out on missions, but when they're resting, they stay at Las Noches. This area is a fair ways off from Las Noches, so there's less of a chance for them to locate and try to kill me for my betrayal for aiding and abetting Ichigo. It's not like I'm afraid of losing and getting killed, but I dislike fighting, is all." She examined the patterns on her teacup thoughtfully, swilling the remaining contents around. "Plus, there are those who would be sad in the unlikely case I get myself killed. My fraccion, for one."

Though she had no idea what fraccion were, Karin had a vague feeling that another person who would be sad was lying over on the bed, with a large number of stitches in him.

As they finished up their now lukewarm tea, they heard a groan. They whipped their heads around over to the bed. Grimmjow had finally awakened. Hurriedly putting their teacups down, they ran over as he tried to sit up. However, before he could, they held him down, keeping him from doing so.

"Don't get up." advised Karin. "You've have sixty-nine stitches in your body. _Sixty-nine._ Sixty-nine sutures that I literally went through hell and back to stitch, I might add."

"Speaking of hell, what the hell happened?" Grimmjow looked around, seeing several dents in the wall and a painting partially demolished.

"Serpiente's Sangria Eterna and you shooting bala while we were trying to sew you back together happened." Neliel replied snarkily, though her sarcasm sounded a bit forced.

At this, Grimmjow tried to abruptly sit up, and if it weren't for Neliel holding him firmly down, he would have succeeded, and consequently popped open the thirty-nine stitches on his torso. "That bastard poisoned me?"

Wryly, Tatsuki said, "It seems so. Didn't you know about his poison?"

Grimmjow looked away; apparently he had forgotten about it in the heat of the battle.

"It was a gamble, but it looks like the antiseptic worked, and the poison in his bloodstream wore off." Karin said.

Quietly, Neliel said, "We thought you were going to die." Karin could have sworn that she'd heard a tremor in Neliel's voice.

Grimmjow snorted then bit back a wince as he felt it in his wounds. "As if you'd get rid of me that easily."

His hand snaked its way into hers, and he squeezed it gently as if to assure her he was okay.

When she saw a glimmer in Neliel's golden eyes, Karin belatedly realized that they needed some time alone.

Business-like, she beckoned to Tatsuki. Clearing her throat, she said, "Excuse us, but now that we've seen Grimmjow wake up, we need some place to train to be able to get back home in one piece. There isn't any place we can train in this Cubo, is there?"

Taking a shaky breath accompanied by an almost undetectable sniff, Neliel answered, "Actually, there is." Without looking up, she directed, "Go to the center of the wall to my left. There'll be a door, and free space on the other side."

As they moved towards the door, out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw Neliel kneel at the bedside and bend her head over Grimmjow. So all her disinterested - nay, bullying - actions towards Grimmjow had been an act.

Opening the door, Karin saw a fairly large and rectangular space, completely bare of furniture: the perfect training space. It had nothing on Urahara's basement, but _that_ training area was the definition of overkill.

Letting Tatsuki in, Karin closed the door softly behind them. Taking a deep breath, she turned and informed the older girl, "I'm not really good at teaching, but bear with me, okay?"

Tatsuki nodded, and replied, "I've dealt with bad teachers before."

Playfully, Karin punched her arm. "You're supposed to say, 'no no, you're an excellent teacher' here." Becoming serious again, she stated, "I need you to pretend like you're facing your inner hollow again, and fight using your spiritual energy. Except this time, you're facing me." Having said this, Tatsuki nodded her head, and stood in the standard karate stance. Even after she had attained a 10th dan black belt, she always stuck to the basics at the start. Though Karin wasn't bad at martial arts herself, but fighting against Tatsuki would be troublesome, if only because Tatsuki was physically so much more skilled; Karin exhaled and prepared herself for an all-out brawl.

"Come at me with all you've got."

She got what she wanted.

…

Meanwhile, Rukia barely held her own against Toushirou in his shikai state. She was panting and wielding her pure white zanpakutou sluggishly. Suddenly, Toushirou sealed his zanpakutou again and strapped it back onto its usual place. Confused, she stopped.

"Let's stop for now, Kuchiki. You've done yourself in for today."

Yet Rukia still brandished her sword. She said, "Forgive me for contradicting you, Hitsugaya Taichou, but I still have the energy to continue."

Toushirou saw her determination and inwardly sighed. Even Rukia, who was obviously lying about her condition, was set on getting stronger… what was he doing? He clenched his fists. He, too, needed to get stronger, but he only had one way to do it. Unclenching his fists, he suddenly said to Rangiku, "Matsumoto. Get Shihouin."

If Rangiku was surprised at this order, she didn't show it. She leapt lightly off of Shuuhei's back and went up the hatch to get Yoruichi, probably prowling around on the roof in her cat form. Then Toushirou turned back to Rukia. "I'll have Shihouin fix you up with her healing water, and then I'll spar with you again. But that'll take some time. Can you wait?" He fixed her with a sharp turquoise eye.

Rukia acquiesced.

Having done this, he stabbed Hyourinmaru down into the ground, held the handle to release his zanpakutou's bankai and then sat down in lotus position. It was a bit uncomfortable sitting down in his bankai state – what with the ice tail and all – but he dealt with it. While Yoruichi healed Rukia, he would enter jinzen state and have a one on one 'talk' with Daiguren Hyourinmaru.

…...

As usual, his spirit world was a barren, icy landscape. When he didn't see anything – or anyone – else, Toushirou sighed and called out, _'Daiguren Hyourinmaru. You know I'm here. Come out.'_

A man wearing an ice-blue yukata, with wings, limbs, and a tail made of ice much like Toushirou in his bankai state, materialized in front of Toushirou. He had snow-white hair just like his master, but his eyes were silver. Toushirou stared at Daiguren Hyourinmaru, who had made the most unusual choice to take on a humanoid form. Usually, he was too proud to leave its dragon form, so Toushirou realized his zanpakutou knew what his master had come for.

(A/N: For those of you who watch the anime, his form is different from the one in Zanpakutou Tales arc. Not only because Hyourinmaru's in bankai form here, but also because zanpakutou tales isn't canon.)

'**It's been a while since you've come here to meet me.'**

Toushirou said nothing to this. It was true that he had only performed jinzen with Hyourinmaru in its sealed form, since three years ago. Seeing that his master had no intention of replying, Daiguren Hyourinmaru continued, **'The last time you came to me was three years ago, I believe? Why have you come, Toushirou?'**

His zanpakutou was among the select few he did not mind calling him by his given name, but the question irked him. _'Do I have to say it outright? The mere fact that you took on your human form when I came is proof that you know what I want.'_

'**Yes. I do know. You desire to become more powerful. The real thing I wish to ask concerns your reason why. Is it to protect someone? **_**Another**_** girl?'** Toushirou narrowed his eyes and made no reply. Daiguren Hyourinmaru calmly regarded Toushirou.** 'So you wish to further develop your bankai and therefore don't have time for idle chatter.' **His zanpakutou remarked, reading Toushirou's expression accurately. **'The fact that one minute in this world is a miniscule amount of a second in the world you physically reside in, matters not to you.'**Sighing, the zanpakutou drew the sword at his waist. **'Very well.'**

Toushirou immediately went to grip his own sword, but his hands closed on air. He looked back, dismayed when he saw no hilt over his shoulder.

Upon seeing this, Daiguren Hyourinmaru said evenly,** 'You will not use my sword form this time around. You must rely only on the water particles around you.'**

Clenching his teeth at the unexpected turn of events, Toushirou could only leap away as his own manifested zanpakutou attacked him, leaving a large crater frozen over with ice in its wake. Almost immediately afterwards, the zanpakutou swiped the sword up, slicing into Toushirou's calf muscle mid-jump. Wincing, Toushirou landed on one knee, unable to support himself on his hurt leg. Staring at Daiguren Hyourinmaru who stood still at a distance away, the rather well-oiled gears in Toushirou's head started to turn.

Rely on the water particles? He had never consciously formed ice without his zanpakutou.

He knew he could involuntarily freeze things over before he'd become a shinigami, so it was highly likely he could form ice as well, but he didn't know how. He forced himself to think.

Before he'd become a shinigami… even before he'd gone to shinigami academy… before he'd gotten control over his spiritual energy… back when he'd leaked out spiritual energy everywhere, frosting everything over in his sleep… back when his reiatsu had occasionally exploded out of…

Reiatsu! Toushirou's eyes lit up. Maybe the key to forming ice without his zanpakutou was gaining even finer control over his spiritual energy. He gulped. If so, this task would be difficult. As things stood now, he had learnt enough control to hold his power back to a certain point; enough to handle higher level kidou spells and become a captain. But the fact still stood that he had trouble not getting the people around him involved in his attacks. Weather manipulation remained a primary example of this. Despite that, he had to try; there were no people in his spiritual state besides him and his zanpakutou.

Toushirou concentrated his reiatsu to his shoulder blades, willing them to form wings of ice that would enable him fly. Unfortunately, forming ice without Hyourinmaru was a lot more difficult than with it. His zanpakutou formed the ice automatically so long as Toushirou continued to feed it spiritual energy. But without his zanpakutou, he had to concentrate on gathering water particles, clumping them together, then freezing them; all of which used his spiritual energy.

There were too many steps in the process for Toushirou to perform this feat without a fearsome amount of concentration. As the particles gathered all too slowly, Daiguren Hyourinmaru finally got tired of waiting and lunged towards Toushirou, swinging his sword as if he were going to behead him. Instead, as soon as the zanpakutou came within cutting distance, he lightly tapped his master's neck with the back of his sword. **'I waited enough to allow you to gather your thoughts, and it seems that you have realized something.' **He lowered his sword.** 'That's one time you've 'died.' If you 'die' ninety-nine more times without being able to beat me, I will not teach you any more until you are ready.'**

'_Ninety-nine times? Don't you think that's ninety times too many?' _Toushirou replied with a rare grin. His zanpakutou had challenged him, and he would rise to it.

…

Karin blocked a punch, which hurt much less than it should have, considering the amount of reiatsu that Tatsuki had packed into it. But Karin had also spread her reiatsu evenly all over her skin. It still wasn't enough, Karin thought. She surmised that it would block a blunter blade, but a razor sharp sword would still pierce through her thin armor of spiritual energy. Counter attacking with her other arm only to be blocked, Karin maneuvered away from a karate move meant to flip her onto her back and shouted, "You've got to pack more spiritual energy if you want to pierce through an arrancar's skin!"

Tatsuki had made enormous progress in spiritual hand-to-hand combat. Now she only had to master extending her spiritual energy into objects. If she did, given a weapon – such as nunchaku which Tatsuki already knew how to wield – Tatsuki could easily defend herself from lower to mid-level arrancar.

Tatsuki put some distance between her and her sparring partner and asked, "Can we rest for a bit? I need some water."

Nodding, Karin said, "Go ahead."

Pausing at the door, Tatsuki looked back. "You want some too, Karin?"

"No thanks." The sweet water would just stick in her throat if she drank it now. Instead, as she dimly heard the door shut, she sat down and began to contemplate what to do about her inner hollow.

She was almost sure that the hollow was the source of the sudden – and unwanted – pleasure she had taken from killing. But what of the sword that materialized out of thin air? Did that have to do with the hollow as well? She wasn't quite sure. Frustrated, she mussed up her own hair._ 'Ah, screw that. What's the good in thinking about it all day? I have to _act_.'_ She knew she had to act, but she didn't exactly know how.

What would Toushirou say to this dilemma?

Karin could just imagine him saying, _'If you think something is wrong with your spirit, then you have to find out just _what_ the problem is. Then you need to find out _why_. Only then you will find out _where_ your spirit is unstable, and be able to fix it. Meditate.'_ It sounded realistic even to her ears, and she hadn't known him for that long.

He really was a meditation geek, Karin thought, amused. But then, her eyes widened in realization.

She could meditate.

It was idiotic of her, not to think of it until now. She silently thanked Toushirou, even if he hadn't helped her directly.

If she could meet the hollow again, she would get some answers.

…

Having finished forming his wings, Toushirou took off into the sky and began to concentrate on forming a sword with ice. But before he had even built his sword to the hilt, his zanpakutou attacked once again. Toushirou hastily dodged Daiguren Hyourinmaru's well-aimed swing at his neck, but as soon as he did so, the sword stopped forming and melted in his hand. Cursing to himself, Toushirou began to focus the water particles surrounding his hand with spiritual pressure, to make the sword again.

After his fifth 'death' Toushirou was getting the hang of using spiritual particles to form ice; he made them at much higher speeds than his first try.

Quickly forming a projectile of pointy ice, he sent it hurtling towards Daiguren Hyourinmaru, who dodged just in time. Toushirou hadn't expected it to work in the first place, but it had done its part: distraction. Toushirou tried forming the ice at larger distances away. Such as right behind Daiguren Hyourinmaru. But this shard of ice only got integrated into his manifested zanpakutou's wings. Gritting his teeth, Toushirou parried another attack with a *wakizashi-like piece of ice, which broke immediately upon contact. He had forgotten to pack the ice with spiritual energy. Without spiritual energy to support its core, it would just shatter like any other ice.

Fighting the urge to just cast away the broken piece of ice in his hand, Toushirou focused once again to focus water particles onto it, this time pouring a much larger amount of reiatsu into his slightly longer blade of ice.

***Wakizashi=short blade**

This time, the blade he had made lasted three tries before he 'died' for the sixth time.

'**Are you sure that ten tries are enough?' **Daiguren Hyourinmaru said in a mocking voice.

'_I still have four more tries left. That's plenty left to defeat you._' Toushirou replied. He leapt away just in time from the spot that he foresaw that the next attack would be directed, and frozen spikes sprouted from the very place he had just been crouching. Toushirou's lips tightened at the sight.

For the first few deaths, his zanpakutou had stopped just short of killing him, but the last few times, it seemed like he was starting to really try. He was wounded not only on his calf, but also bleeding from a cut on his cheek, forearm, and side. He would have been frozen from head to toe if he hadn't integrated the ice into his wings just in time. Hiding his left hand behind his back, he formed a dagger without being seen. Holding the dagger in his sleeve, he flew behind Daiguren Hyourinmaru in order to find an opening. When his zanpakutou sent another bout of ice towards him, his time, he used some of the ice to make a proper sword. It worked, but he didn't have time to congratulate himself, as his zanpakutou slashed at him again.

Blocking the strike and grimacing from the shock absorbed by his numerous wounds, Toushirou jumped back to put some distance between him and Daiguren Hyourinmaru. If his zanpakutou attacked, he would see it. He lifted his ice sword into the air, and pointed it to the gray sky. Slowly, storm clouds formed around it, writhing several kilometers above the two, forming a spiral that resembled a cyclone. Toushirou was attempting a Hyouten Hyakkasou – his most uncontrollable attack – without his zanpakutou to even remotely control it. As the whirling increased in speed, Daiguren Hyourinmaru widened his eyes and lunged to attack Toushirou before his master managed to succeed. At the last moment, Toushirou swerved to the right and held the ice dagger he had hidden in his left hand to his zanpakutou's neck.

'_I've got you.' _His eyes conveyed the unsaid: now teach me how to make my bankai stronger.

His zanpakutou gave him a small smile and slowly faded away into particles of ice, then water. **'You've already learned how.'**

…

When Karin immersed herself into the same meditative space, she had expected complete darkness, like when she had faced her hollow before.

But this time, she saw not darkness, but ruined, crumbling buildings. It looked like…

'**Yes. This is Tokyo, specifically Karakura town. Laid to waste. Grim, isn't it?'**

It sounded like a young man. Karin swung around sharply and almost lost her balance because she had been standing at the point of the crusted tip of a half burnt building. Regaining her footing by jumping to a comparatively unharmed part of the building, Karin lifted her head to look for who had spoken. She spotted him.

'_I was thinking a scene right out of an apocalypse movie, actually.'_ Karin replied coolly to the owner of the voice.

A boy around her age, clad in the uniform of her school, perched atop a relatively intact building. He had dark red hair, reminding Karin of blood.

Laughing at her rebuttal, he jumped lightly from the building, landing soundlessly on the ground. Looking up, he crooked a finger at her, gesturing her to join him. She eyed him, trying to decide whether or not to follow him. He grinned at her. After a moment, she decided that she would trust him for the time being. She couldn't explain why; she just felt compelled to. Maybe it was the strange familiarity in his manner.

Landing rather more heavily than the boy, Karin looked at him properly. He had ruby red eyes, brighter than his hair – red eyes usually seemed eerie, but it oddly suited this boy.

Putting her hands on her hips, she asked, '_Who are you? I don't remember seeing you at school. And with your features, you would have definitely stood out.'_

The boy laughed again, as if she'd said something hilarious. **'Of course you wouldn't see me at your school!'**

Karin looked pointedly at his attire. '_Then what's with that uniform? And how did you enter into my mind? Are you just a figment of my imagination?'_

He stopped laughing abruptly. **'You really don't know, do you?' **Sighing heavily, he crouched down and put a hand to his forehead, as if he were exhausted.

'_Know what?'_ Karin asked, confused. Suddenly, a terrible thought struck her. _'Are you another hollow inside me?'_

He looked up, offended. **'Are you comparing **_**me**_** to the thing that destroyed this place?'** He asked incredulously, standing up. **'Me, a part of**_** your**_** soul?'**

Before Karin was able to form a response to this, she felt a hand shake her shoulder, and she opened her eyes from her meditative state.

She stared straight forward, spacing out, before the hand shook her again, and returned her to earth - or rather Hueco Mundo - again.

"You okay?" Brown eyes peered at her.

"Oh, Tatsuki." Karin sighed, and got up to her feet. "Shall we start again?" She felt irritated at the interruption.

"That's not what I woke you for." Tatsuki nodded towards the door where a tasty aroma wafted through. Annoyance fading away, Karin leapt to her feet and excitedly followed Tatsuki. Then she saw the oddest sight.

…

…

A/N: I've titled the last FIVE chapters _The Meeting_ but always had to change it because I couldn't get around to the meeting itself. (well, I technically could have, but I always like updating, and the chapter titled _The Meeting _would have been almost 30,000 words long)

When I finished writing the chapter this time, I leapt up and shouted, "FINALLY!" Luckily I was alone in the house.

And I'm not very good at complicated love relationships and expressing their emotions without making it emo (due to my not having much dating experience), for those of you who were wondering... I'm not going to make this fic a GrimmKarin. Though I may make a story featuring them in the future.


	19. Darkness and Remembrance

**Chapter 19: Darkness and Remembrance**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Yes, bloodyrose1294, you're quite correct… Maybe my writing is too predictable… =/

…

**Chapter 19**

Darkness and Remembrance

…

An odd scene was playing out before Karin.

Grimmjow was standing. But Neliel said that arrancar healed quickly, so that wasn't the strange thing.

No indeed.

Grimmjow held a soup ladle in his hand, and was bent over a pot of soup. That was very odd in itself, as she never imagined him to be the homemaking type…

But that wasn't it either. Ichi-nii cooked when Yuzu was busy with her home-ec club. Even he, one of the most masculine men that she knew, cooked.

The oddest thing that she saw, was, in the process of doing all this, Grimmjow was wearing a flower-patterned apron complete with frilled edges. He looked positively emasculated, and strangely resembled Yuzu in that moment, though admittedly a great deal taller and more muscled and with a disgruntled expression that her twin would never wear.

As he turned to meet her eyes, Grimmjow's eyes dared Karin to comment. Though sure that Grimmjow couldn't fight with all those stitches in him, Karin just raised her eyebrows and didn't say a word on his state of dress. Tatsuki, who had seen it before, looked ready to burst out with laughter. She managed to hold it in, though just barely.

Sitting a fair distance away from Grimmjow and the kitchen on an armchair, Neliel greeted Karin. "Hey! You're back! Come have some of the dinner that Grimmjow made." She looked at a strange device that looked like some gears randomly thrown in together, and then amended, "Well, considering the time, it'll technically be breakfast now."

As they sat to the 'breakfast' of a surprisingly impressive culinary display, Karin tried to determine the contents of the separate dishes. One looked like fried tofu, another seemed like miso soup, the one across from her was undoubtedly tossed salad, and the one over there seemed like stir-fry. The last one she couldn't quite define; it looked decisively foreign. Then Grimmjow slammed down a large wok of rice at the center of it all. He immediately regretted it, however, as he felt the impact in his wounds. Forcing his grimace of pain into a dangerous smile, he said in a 'sweet' tone of voice directed towards Neliel, "Just _why_ am I standing and cooking when I'm _injured_, if I may ask? If anything, you guys should be serving _me_."

Neliel shrugged. "Because you're better at cooking than I am, and you need to thank the person who stitched you up, maybe?"

He ripped off the accursed frilly floral apron ("Hey! That's my favorite apron!") threw it aside, and sat down, snarling, "You're just exploiting me."

Taking a rice paddle and heaping some rice into her bowl, Neliel said, "So what if I am?"

Ignoring their bickering, Karin and Tatsuki slapped their hands together and declared, "Itadakimasu!" And ravenously dug into their meal, as if they hadn't eaten in days. Which, as a matter of fact, they hadn't.

While stuffing her face, Karin thought to ask with her mouth full, "Where'd you learn how to cook anyways?" Grimmjow looked disgusted as she sprayed tofu from her mouth.

Flicking away the bit of tofu that had landed near him with an expression of distaste, he said evasively, "From here and there."

Placing her chopsticks down, Karin swallowed the large bite of food she'd been chewing on. Chin in hand, Karin propped an elbow on the table and leaned forward towards Grimmjow. "Oh? That sounds terribly vague. What are you hiding?"

Waving her hand, Neliel said, "Don't mind him, he just thinks it's embarrassing for a man, and an arrancar to boot, to read human cooking books~!"

Grimmjow shot Neliel a murderous look, as Karin snorted with laughter and returned to wolfing down the food.

When Karin had finished, she said her thanks for the food and stood up, putting her plates in the sink and then heading straight back towards the training room.

She didn't see Neliel and Tatsuki exchange looks behind her.

Shutting the door, she sat down. She inhaled, preparing to sink in down to her subconscious again.

She opened her eyes back in the burnt world, and the boy stared at her, perched atop a pile of rubble.

'**You're back.'**

He didn't sound terribly enthusiastic about that, and Karin said as much. _'You don't sound too happy.'_

He replied dully, **'Well, you don't even know who I am, so excuse me for not jumping up and down in joy.'**

Karin got the feeling that he was rather pissed at her for not recognizing him. But she really had no idea who he was. He had mentioned something before Tatsuki had shaken her out of the state. What was the last thing he said? He'd said something after asking her,

'_you really don't know, do you?'_

She struggled to remember. His face, filled with anger, came to mind, but when she tried to recall what he'd said so angrily, her head ached sharply and she couldn't remember.

Shaking her head as if to clear the headache, Karin wanted to ask him what he'd said. But when she raised her face up, she had time to only hear him shout a warning, **'Watch ou-'** before she plunged into a sudden darkness.

The dark pulled her into its depths, grabbing her as if it had many hands. Startled, Karin stared around at the darkness as it held her down. She couldn't see anything. What was going on? Suddenly fearful, Karin opened her mouth to call out to the boy, only to get woken out of the meditative state again.

Her eyes snapped open and she leapt to her feet, unaware that she had come back to the physical world. "What IS GOING O- !" She stopped as if her breath had been cut off as she met golden eyes. It was Neliel. As her golden eyes looked carefully into hers, Karin remembered where she stood, and felt a wave of gratefulness for being woken up from the darkness, "Oh. Neliel." She felt not annoyance, but enormous relief that she had been woken up this time. "You have no idea how thankful I am to you for waking me up. What is it?"

Raising her eyebrows, Neliel asked, "I was going to ask if you'd like me to spar with you guys."

Bemused, Karin asked, "What about Grimmjow?"

"He's sleeping, leaving me at your disposal. So, since I've got Hierro – iron skin, to you – and am a former Espada myself, I thought I could be of some use."

Karin saw the logic in this. When she opened her mouth to form an answer, her vision suddenly blacked out and her mind went blank. For a moment, Karin was trapped in the dark space again.

Noticing Karin staring out into space for a bit, Neliel reminded her gently, "Karin?"

Jolting out of the darkness, Karin realized she had been about to form an answer. Shaking out her head again, Karin blinked her eyes rapidly and finally answered, "Sure, I'd appreciate it if you did." A wave of darkness threatened to overwhelm her again, and she shook her head violently, forcing herself to continue. "Can you spar with Tatsuki first? I need to… figure something out." She finished weakly.

Worried, Neliel asked Karin, "Are you sure you're okay? You look a bit pale. Maybe you should get some sleep, if only for a couple hours."

Waving off Neliel's concern, Karin assured her, "I'm fine. Fine." As if to reassure herself as well, she repeated more quietly, "Perfectly fine."

Though she could tell Karin was hiding something, Neliel didn't press any further. "Okay. But you should still go and lay down. The couch is free."

Karin tried to protest, but was pushed out of the room by Neliel and Tatsuki, insisting that she get some sleep.

Little did they know that Karin was too afraid to fall asleep, lest the darkness, and whatever waited inside it, consume her whole.

…

When Toushirou returned from his jinzen state, he found himself frozen over with a thick layer of ice, rendering him immobile.

He focused his spiritual energy and as he opened his eyes, he shattered the ice with a decisive blast.

He didnt see the shinigami staring at him. Standing, he spread his ice wings and whipped his tail, flexing his claws. He stared down pensively at his left claw. They somehow felt different; lighter, more flexible. The glowing red eyes of the dragon on his right hand seemed to stare straight at him. Toushirou grasped the hilt of his zanpakutou with his right hand and pulled the sword out of the ground. At the same time, a cold wind burst through the air.

All the shinigami shivered as the cold cut through them like a knife. Only Rukia seemed unaffected by the cold. She too, had an ice-type zanpakutou, after all.

"Oi, oi. Isn't this a basement? Why is it so cold?" Ikkaku demanded, his breath frosting in the air.

Yumichika answered, "That's the beauty of the 10th Division Captain's zanpakutou."

Ikkaku seemed grumpy at this. "Well, I don't deny that it's powerful, but the blade itself doesn't change its shape like the 11th Division's zanpakutou do." The cold slowly ebbed away.

"You forget, when he releases his shikai, his zanpakutou gets a chain and a crescent blade attached to it."

"Yeah, but his shikai also has elemental skills! You've got to fight fairly! Sword skill by sword skill! Elements ruin all the fun."

Toushirou, who had overheard this exchange, had a vein popping out of his temple, when he growled, "What, Madarame, you want to test my sword skills without my ice?"

Stepping a straw-sandaled foot onto a nearby stone and rolling up a sleeve, Ikkaku said excitedly, "Yes I – "

Rangiku slapped him aside, asking, "Taichou, what happened? We were all shocked when you froze over!"

Before Toushirou could reply that it wasn't a big deal, a clapping sound echoed through the basement.

"You've mastered another level to your bankai, Hitsugaya-taichou. Congratulations."

Toushirou scowled at Urahara for this unwanted declaration. He didn't like Urahara – or anybody, for that matter – unnecessarily revealing anything about him. Turning his back on Urahara, Toushirou called to Rukia, "Kuchiki. Are you ready?"

She saluted him and picked up her zanpakutou, releasing it in on fluid movement.

Ikkaku sat back down, rubbing his cheek where Rangiku had shoved him roughly aside. "Che… I wanted to fight him…"

Renji stood up and said, "Then why don't we train together, Ikkaku-san? Just like the old days?"

"Aaah~? Nah, too boring. I fought against you plenty of times." Ignoring Renji's put out look, Ikkaku's eyes searched around for a sparring partner, his eyes slid over Urahara Kisuke… too intimidating, even for him... Kira Izuru… too weak... they passed over Rangiku too, but she was a woman, and he didn't fight women; Yoruichi was the same case, nevermind that she was tremendously strong. Eventually, they landed on Shuuhei. "O~i. Hisagi-taichou. Care to fight?"

Shuuhei looked him in the eye, about to refuse, because he disliked unnecessary fighting, but upon hearing this, Rangiku bounced over excitedly. "Oh, are you going to fight? I'll give the winner a reward!"

At this, Shuuhei suddenly got up and replied very enthusiastically, "Yes!"

Ikkaku grinned with anticipation of facing a new opponent.

While all this was going on, Ichigo continued to spar against his father. Both were getting tired, but Isshin hadn't even released his bankai yet.

"You're getting slow, old man!" Slicing down with his black sword, Ichigo narrowly missed Isshin.

"Hah! Speak for yourself!" Isshin leapt away. "Catch me if you can~!" Laughing, he hopped away as Ichigo bared his teeth and ran after him. (A sparkling beach chasing scene came to minds of the other shinigami, except the participants weren't male and female lovers.)

"Stop… running!"

Abruptly, Isshin obliged, causing Ichigo's face to slam into his chest. Leaping back, Ichigo grinned (though he held his nose in pain) and said in satisfaction, "Now that's more like it."

He smashed his blade against his father's blade and pushed him back through the air. Moving to the side, Isshin let Newton's first law do its work and sent Ichigo falling forward without a force to block his sword. Hastily, Ichigo turned around and parried Isshin's surprise attack. The situation was reversed and this time Ichigo's feet slid back from the force. Forced to disengage his sword, Ichigo used shunpo to put some distance between and swung his sword back.

Seeing Ichigo retreat for the time being, Isshin too, grinned, and slid his sword back into its sheath, and crouched into a stance so that he could draw his sword and attack at any time. At this action, Ichigo became wary. "What're you up to, Oyaji?"

"Come at me and see." Isshin replied slyly.

Seeing this, Urahara grinned and tipped his hat downwards. "My my. He's using _that_ technique. Against his own son, too."

The shopkeeper was then approached by Yoruichi. "Any luck with Karin yet?"  
At this, he said, "Judging from the amount of spirit particles left behind, I traced her to Kyoto. Where in Kyoto, I don't know yet, but we'll find her soon."

Despite his trepidation, Ichigo decided to indulge his father. He charged towards Isshin, whose grin widened. As Ichigo prepared an attack, Isshin leapt forward and pulled his sword from its sheath in an upward sweeping motion, the friction from the two metals somehow simultaneously igniting black lightning. Ichigo, who had been preparing a Kuroi Getsuga Tenshou of his own, was forced to release it early in order to nullify the attack; unfortunately, the premature release made it an incomplete Getsuga Tenshou and only blocked part of the attack. Ichigo took the blow of both the sword and the rest of the lightning, hitting the ground in an explosion of dirt.

Bleeding from the wound he had sustained in the attack, Ichigo grit his teeth and staggered to his feet, using his zanpakutou as support. Once he regained his balance, Ichigo looked up at his dad. "Damn, you've been hiding a technique like that?"

Grinning like the Cheshire cat down at his son, Isshin said, "Let's just say that I have plenty more weapons left in my artillery."

Uprooting Zangetsu from the ground, Ichigo grinned and replied, "Then let's see 'em." He rammed on his hollow mask.

…

Karin lay on the sofa, eyes wide open. For the twenty-fourth time, she closed her eyes, only to open them immediately again, fearing what the darkness would do to her. How had she ever meditated? How had she come to fear the darkness so much? Even blinking made her feel slightly nauseous.

She sat up with a groan, as a shadow loomed over her. After hauling him through the desert for over half an hour, she'd recognize that hair shadow anywhere.

"What do you want, Grimmjow?" She grumped.

Said arrancar stood behind her, half-awake and looking as grumpy as she felt. "I can't sleep." He complained.

This made Karin turn around to face him. He was acting like a baby, Karin thought, irritated.

"And that is my problem because…?" Karin said with an air of exaggerated patience she no longer had… if she'd ever had any.

He jabbed a finger at her chest and accused, "Your breathing is too loud."

Now that was just ridiculous and unreasonable. How could one help _breathing_? Karin snorted, pushing his hand away. "That's why you can't sleep? Because I _breathe_ too loudly?" She briefly forgot about the darkness that haunted her. "Well, forgive me for _existing, _your highness."

His cold blue eyes stared at her. "You're not forgiven, because I can practically _smell_ the fear rolling off you in waves."

Fighting to hide her nervousness at this bulls-eye statement, Karin rolled her eyes, trying her best to look undaunted. "You can smell that? Then can you smell how annoyed I am? Or even easier, how stinky you are? You're a walking bio-weapon. That smell could knock out normal people ten feet away."  
Karin's mouth got so ahead of her, that it made even her nervous as the words reached her own ears. She was talking to an Espada… a killing machine… no matter how many stitches he had in him…

Mouth twisting, Grimmjow replied, "Ha. Ha. You're very funny."

"Ouch, that sarcasm bites." Karin fought sarcasm back in kind.

Before Karin knew it, she felt Grimmjow's palm on her face, his fingers gripping the sides of her head. "Go the fuck to sleep."

He let go of her as she slumped back onto the couch, finally succumbing to the darkness.

"And face your fear, whatever it is."

….

Swallowed by the darkness of her mind, Karin lie spread eagle on top of nothing. Everything. Darkness.

The air felt so heavy; it was difficult to breathe. She just wanted to give up everything and just forget…

Toushirou's face flashed into her mind. Well. Everything but him, Karin thought sluggishly.

Everything else she could forget once and for… all? Was that how she really felt? Kurosaki Karin? Younger sister of Kurosaki Ichigo? Invincible soccer star of Karakura High? Stubborn, strong Kurosaki Karin?

Despite the heaviness that weighed down on her body, Karin sat up, feeling like she was trying to swim through syrup. She couldn't give up here. Slapping the sides of her face, she thought, _'I have to get strong enough to go back home.'_ As soon as she thought this, the darkness warped and changed into the familiar half-destroyed cityscape.

'**Thought you would be too afraid to come back.'**

Frowning at the boy, Karin asked, _'Are you always this passive-aggressive?'_

The boy simply shrugged in response, turning away from her and back to his position of disinterest, arm on knee and leg dangling off of the half-destroyed wall he sat on.  
The silence was almost as heavy as the darkness Karin had just escaped. Preferring to break the silence rather than suffocate from it, Karin tried to start a topic relevant to both of them. _'So… what happened here? It can't have always been like this.'_ Karin gestured around at their ravaged surroundings.

Swinging his head towards her, he said incredulously, **'You don't know?'** Wrinkling his nose, he asked rhetorically, **'What is it you **_**do**_** know?'**

Karin's forced herself to stay calm. He sulked because she had not known him, and insulted her because of that grudge. That was it. The fault lay neither with her nor with him. That was it.

He tasted the air and muttered to himself, **'It's not in this vicinity anymore, though now that you're here, that probably won't last.'** Then shooting Karin a nasty look, he said, **'You're the one who set it loose here in the first place.'**

Exasperated at how cryptic the boy was being, impatience tinged Karin's voice as she demanded, _'Just_ what_ are you talking about? Are you talking about what destroyed this place?_'

Sighing loudly, the guy swung his leg up and lay back on the edge of the broken wall, motioning towards the buildings surrounding them. **'You know, I was just living peacefully in this place – it was nice and whole at the time – waiting for the time I finally get to meet you after all these years…' **He half-glanced at her, as she tapped her foot, waiting for the prelude of the answer to her question to end. **'Then it suddenly charged into this world and started wreaking havoc. I tried to fight it off, but because you weren't aware of me, I couldn't fight at full power.'** He sighed, then said bitterly, **'Then I finally **_**do **_**get to meet you face to face. But as expected, even after I materialized for you, you don't know me.'** As Karin tried to decipher what he meant by this, he shot Karin another scathing glare. **'On the other hand, you were feeding **_**her**_** plenty of bloodlust and fear, so she got more and more powerful.'**

It dawned upon her. Seeing her face expression, the red haired boy confirmed Karin's suspicions. **'Yeah. Your hollow.'**

At that moment a frighteningly familiar spiritual pressure came down from above.

'**Che. Speak of the devil. Here it comes, invading my territory again.'**

A figure hurtled downwards, landing in between them with a smash. The blast sent debris flying in all directions, and Karin had to hold up her arm to protect her eyes. When the dust had settled, Karin saw an inverted form of herself standing among the debris, a crater smoking from the place where she had landed.

'_**Long time no see,**_** Master**_**.' **_The last word was filled with scorn.

She sported neither mask nor hole, but the spiritual energy and the discordant voice, as well as her eerie eyes, gave away the fact that the figure before them was the very same hollow that had tried to take over Karin's body.

'_I thought I'd be seeing you again.'_ Karin quietly said.

'_**Well, I was biding my time, you know.'**_ The hollow idly examined her fingernails. _**'Letting you get comfortable. Waiting for you to let your guard down.'**_ She looked at Karin and grinned. Until the proof stared back at her, Karin had previously thought it was impossible for her facial muscles to arrange themselves into that grin; it was too wide. Too bloodthirsty. Then the hollow suddenly jumped up to attack Karin, who had no time to react.

In a flash, the boy was in between them, right hand enclosed around Karin's wrist and left hand holding a sword to cut off the hollow's attack, stopping the hollow's fingers inches away from Karin's heart. **'Not so fast.'**

The warmth from his hand felt familiar.  
In fact, everything about this boy seemed strangely familiar, from his demeanor, to his warmth.

Karin's eyes widened as they landed on the long, double-edged sword in his left hand, blocking the hollow's arm.

That looked familiar too. It was the sword that she had summoned in the battle against the arrancar, except that this one wasn't transparent. It was completely solid and crimson, smoldering with white tendrils of energy.

The blade glinted as he pushed off the hollow's arm and swiped his blade towards her chest. She leapt back, but the blade grazed her chest, managing to make a shallow cut. In the process it also tore the fabric of her black shirt, revealing cleavage that Karin hadn't been aware she'd had. Maybe her hollow form was better endowed than her.

Grinning and swiping a thumb across the cut, the hollow licked the blood off of the digit. Raising an eyebrow, she said suggestively, _**'Oh? So that's how you want to go at it? You like your fierce foreplay huh?'**_ She flexed her right hand, and her own sword materialized out of nowhere. It looked the same as the boy's, but gave off black energy. Twirling the sword around with her hands to get a better grip on it, she suddenly lunged, targeting the boy this time.

Forgetting the cleavage issue, Karin returned to staring at the crimson sword the boy parried her attack with, hypnotized.

Suddenly, an image flashed through her mind. The image of her fighting against the three arrancar with the transparent sword in her hand…

Then more images began to flow through her mind, as if playing on a film. Images of her fighting against Yoruichi after her argument with Ichigo and Toushirou… The boy exclaiming something in anger… the sword she had materialized… the boy leaping up… the first time she had managed to break the rock with her fist… the boy's backside as he protected her from the hollow just a moment ago… the crimson sword in front of her now… and the strangely familiar warmth.

The first time she'd felt the warmth was in the first fight with her hollow side.

He whipped around and shouted at Karin, **'What're you stupidly standing there for? Hurry up and get away! I know you can't get out of this jinzen state right now, because **_**she's**_** here and your body's knocked out cold, but at least you can run on your own two legs!'**

Even after this tirade, she stood stock-still, the meanings of the images falling into place like puzzle pieces.

He had always provided her with strength when she most needed it. She thought back to what he'd said before.

_'Then I finally do get to meet you face to face. But as expected, even after I materialized for you, you don't know me.'_

Then, she finally remembered what he'd said after getting angry.

_'Me, a part of your soul?'_

That phrase rang out in her mind. _Me, a part of your soul? Me, a part of your soul? ME, A PART OF YOUR SOUL?_

Presently, he jumped in front of her, again blocking a strike from the hollow. **'Come on! I can't protect you if you're standing there like a mannequin just waiting to get knocked over!"**

She continued to stare at him, meeting his blood-red eyes. She whispered, _'You're… A part of me. A part of my spirit. A part of my _soul_."_

His eyes widened, as Karin suddenly brought forth her warm spiritual energy to her hands. Once her hands had grown painfully hot, she felt the spiritual energy burst out of them, forming twin crimson blades, this time solid, one in each hand.

Taking advantage of the boy's distraction, the hollow swung her sword at him. Time seemed to slow down, and Karin rushed forward, trapping the hollow's sword between her own twin blades, and whispered._ 'You're Koutetsu*.'_

A smile spread over the boy's face.

**'**_**Now**_** you recognize me. Took you long enough.'**

…

…

***Koutetsu = Word play on 'Crimson Iron' and 'Steel,' as their pronunciations are the same.**

A/N: Urgh… another battle scene… and I have to write _another_ one in the next chapter… _

Sorry to disappoint those who read my first KarinHitsu fanfic, Fallen Souls and expected the name to be Shinketsuen. ;] That's only if I decide to write a sequel for that fic. Besides, the spirit's appearance is different.

I also realize that I may not be developing all the characters properly. But I can only distribute so much of my energy…


	20. Failure and Betrayal

**Chapter 20: Failure and Betrayal**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: The rest of this story in my head is slowly but steadily driving me crazy. I need to get it out of my system quickly...

…

**Chapter 20**

Failure and Betrayal

…

'**Now you recognize me. Took you long enough.'**

The city began to rebuild itself, bit by bit. The crumbling wall that Koutetsu had sat on earlier began to form again, as the pieces gathered together from all over the rubble. An enormous chunk of a building nearby began to reassemble itself. Cement and shards of glass were rising into the air.

Dodging the fragments of a nearby sign, Karin didn't have time to marvel at the reconstruction of her spirit world, as she fought desperately against her inner hollow. She fought with a sword in each hand, now glistening with the hollow's blood.

Karin thanked the day that she'd first seen a sword duel and begged Beardy to allow her to take lessons; over the years because of her athletic skills, she had achieved near mastery, she could overpower everyone but the sensei. But unfortunately, her hollow self seemed equally proficient at kenjutsu. Karin needed to get creative. So she swirled and windmilled her swords around like a sword dancer, albeit a little less graceful and whole lot more deadly. The hollow blocked her consecutive attacks with relative ease, but could find no gap in Karin's defense.

In the back, sword melting away, Koutetsu fell forward on to all fours.

Seeing this and becoming alarmed, Karin shouted, 'Koutetsu?" fearing he'd been injured in the process of protecting her. But the hollow gave her no chance to check on Koutetsu, as she immediately took advantage of the opening that Karin had provided her. Turning her head back to face the hollow, Karin managed to block the brunt of strike just in time, but the sword tip bit into her side. Blood spurted from stab wound as Karin leapt back, retaliating and slashing the hollow's torso in the process. "Koutetsu!" She yelled again.

On all fours, Koutetsu seemed to stretch to impossible proportions. His back expanded, limbs thickened and evened out in length, and he started growling.

Preoccupied with battling against her hollow, Karin didn't see Koutetsu's transformation. Despite her injuries on various limbs, along with a torso wound that bled heavily, the hollow gave a bloody grin.

'_**You think you've got the upper hand, just because you've got two swords?'**_ Wiping the blood off the corner of her mouth with the back of her right wrist, the hollow flexed her left hand, and Karin felt it emit spiritual energy. _**'But in this world, **_**Master**_**, we fight numbers with numbers. You're not the only one who's ambidextrous, you know? **_**Master.**_**'**_ Another crimson sword, radiating black smoke, appeared from where the spiritual energy had flared, into the hollow's left hand.

Exhilarated from the feeling of battle-high, the hollow battered Karin with quicker strikes than before. Barely blocking them, Karin flash stepped to get away, closer to Koutetsu, worried about him.

She turned her head towards Koutetsu, _'Can you get awa - '_ Her words cut short as she saw an enormous red-striped tiger crouching in the very place where Koutetsu had previously stood._'Koutetsu?'_ She asked the tiger, who gave no answer but to spring forward, and pounce the hollow.

The hollow grimaced as the tiger pinned her to the ground, and her jarred her wounds at the contact. He dug his claws into her shoulders, making fresh wounds.

'**Do you surrender?'** He growled, lashing his tail.

'_**Surrender? That word doesn't exist in my world.'**_ The hollow summoned enough spiritual energy to throw Koutetsu off of her and stood up.

He crouched down, preparing to attack the hollow again, but Karin stepped between them. '_Koutetsu. Can you leave her to me?'_

'**What?'** He sounded taken aback.

'_I have to defeat her alone.'_

Hearing Karin's determined voice, if he had not been in his tiger form, Koutetsu would have smiled. As it was, he replied, **'Good choice.' **It was true; she did have to defeat the hollow herself, without his help.

It was white and red against black and red; they clashed together both in clothes and swords. During this exchange of swords, Karin sustained several wounds herself, further staining the white shirt and shorts that Neliel had lent her. Luckily, she noted, most of her wounds proved superficial, save for the one on her side. _I have to finish this quickly_, Karin thought.

Preparing herself for her mirror image charging towards her, Karin shifted her grips on the hilt of both the swords so the blades were pointing upwards behind her. As the hollow reached her, Karin leapt forward, bringing her arms forward, crossing her wrists; the tips of the swords scissored into the front part of the hollow's neck.

Cut to the windpipes, the hollow fell to her knees and retched out blood.

Their surroundings almost completely restored now, Karin looked down at the hollow kneeling before her.

'_Give up.'_

The hollow choked out,_** 'What… gives you the right to decide whether I exist or not…?'**_ Her fists dug into the dirt, and she looked resentfully up at Karin. _**'I am equally Kurosaki Karin.'**_

Karin threw aside both of her swords, which disappeared as soon as they had no more contact with her flesh, and stood before her helpless other self. _'I acknowledge your existence… Kurosaki Karin.' _Her hands clenched into fists._ 'But you are only a portion of me. I will not kill you.'_

Eyes glinting with anger, the hollow started fading away. _**'You'll regret showing me mercy today. If you ever relax… I'll crush you!'**_ were her last words, before she disappeared.

Karin looked towards Koutetsu, who said after a moment, **'Good job, Karin.'** Then he transformed from the red-striped tiger back into a red-haired and eyed boy.

Glancing at his gray uniform, Karin asked,_ 'So why are you dressed in the uniform of my school, anyways?'_

'**I thought you would recognize me sooner if I wore this.'** He shrugged. **'That wasn't the case, though.'**

Karin grimaced at the 'subtle' reminder of her supposed faux pas. _'Enough with the resentment already, I know you now, don't I?' _She said, irritated.

He grinned as the world started to disappear.** 'You sure do. But one trivia; did you know that another way to spell my name is Kotetsu*?"**

As Karin blinked in surprise, the world faded completely away, and her eyes stared up at a high ceiling. She had returned to the Cubo.

She sat up abruptly, and saw Grimmjow, Neliel, and Tatsuki staring at her. Finally, Tatsuki stepped forward and said, "I think we'd all like an explanation here." She motioned towards the ripped clothes that Karin wore, and her wounds. "What happened to you while you were 'asleep?'"

***Kotetsu = Tiger Iron **(A/N: No, the missing 'u' is not a typo. The first Kanji is different, and so is the pronunciation of the word. When you say Koutetsu, the emphasis is in the 'ou', but in Kotetsu, it's in the beginning 'K' and the last 'tsu')

…

Urahara Kisuke was never puzzled. Usually. But 'never say never' was an adage fitting for the situation that took place then.

As it neared the end of the second day of the three-day deadline, he had finally managed to pinpoint Karin's spiritual pressure to a certain mansion in eastern Kyoto, with a mysterious proprietor. But the puzzling thing was that from there, Karin spiritual pressure had disappeared completely.

He had spoken of this anomaly to Yoruichi, who summarized, "So her stay in Kyoto was brief." Then she predictably surmised, "That must mean that they took her to see Aizen in Hueco Mundo."

_'They may have another base in Kyoto, but why not take her directly to Hueco Mundo first? Why Kyoto?' _Aizen couldn't be there. He had put up sensors that would detect Aizen's spiritual pressure if he entered the human world, regardless of his zanpakutou's ability, Kyouka Suigetsu. Could there be someone that he wanted Karin to meet in Kyoto? If so, who could it be?

Urahara temporarily filed those thoughts away to examine later and went back to thinking about what to do about the shinigami practicing in his basement. Urahara could explain the complete situation; but he didn't think that particularly wise. He knew that at least two of the shinigami, Ichigo and Isshin, wouldn't wait for the rest of the shinigami to formulate a plan. Both of the shinigami possessed hot heads and too much affection in their hearts.

Thinking along the same lines, Yoruichi advised, "Wait until you tell Ichigo about this. And Isshin, for that matter. They're too emotionally invested in this to do things properly. Chances are that they'll both charge off to Hueco Mundo to rescue Karin, and botch things up in the process." After a moment, she added, "And I would hold off on telling the youngest captain as well if I were you. He seems quite attached to Karin."

That hadn't occurred to Urahara, though he knew that it should have. Hitsugaya Toushirou. The shinigami who had even completed another level of bankai in order to rescue Karin.

An idea struck him, and Urahara suddenly smiled. "I'll tell the shinigami about the mansion in Kyoto."

Yoruichi knew him well enough to read his face expression, even under the hat. "…And from the look on your face, _only_ about the mansion in Kyoto." She sighed. "You're planning something devious, aren't you? Kisuke."

Turning his back on her to go back into the shop, he answered with a smile in his voice, "You know me too well, Yoruichi-san."

…

"What?"

"She's _where_?"

"In Kyoto? Of all places, why there?" Renji asked incredulously.

Rukia pondered, "The mansion might be an arrancar base…"

"Correct. It is another base, second to Las Noches." Urahara confirmed. All the while, he kept an eye on the three shinigami that Yoruichi had mentioned. As they had predicted, Ichigo and Isshin were already preparing to jump out of the basement so they could go and rescue Karin. However, Toushirou...

"What's the quickest way to get there?" Both father and son both froze before they could jump out of the trapdoor, and turned to the silver-haired captain, who had asked the very valid question.

Urahara answered, "If you're a normal human… It would be the bullet train."

"But that takes a over two hours!" Ichigo protested.

Whipping out his fan and waving it in Ichigo's direction, Urahara said, "You haven't heard the rest of my statement." A long pause followed, everyone waiting for Urahara to reveal the other option.

"So?" Rangiku prompted.

As if he'd been waiting for that prompt, Urahara continued, "However… If you're a humble candy shop owner, however, things are a bit different." He clapped his hands and looking up at the trapdoor, called out, "Ururu, Jinta?"

In through the trapdoor came the two summoned teenagers, the ends of a long brown cylinder over each their shoulders. As they jumped down, the long brown cylinder rolled out to reveal a long, flexible cloth, not unlike a large carpet. As they used the brown fabric to parachute down, Urahara snapped his fan shut and announced, "This is called the keifu*. Literally, the lightweight cloth. It'll fly us there, and we don't have to go through the trouble of waiting until the next train. My own invention."

The shinigami all looked disappointedly at the carpet.

"Man, I thought the man who created the Hougyoku would have some portal or something." Renji groused.

A vein popped through Urahara's hat.

Yumichika nodded, "Yes. That carpet is unseemly. It would have been much more elegant to step through a portal, like the senkaimon we came through from Soul Society."

Another vein showed up in Urahara's cheek.

"Not to mention that it still takes time to fly to Kyoto." Rukia added.

The usually easygoing Urahara seemed to be quite irritated, as he now sported three veins, one vein per complaint about his beloved invention. "On second thought, I shall go by this carpet alone. The rest of you can go by bullet train. Which, by the way, has stopped running for the day."

"Wait..." Ichigo scratched his head and looked at the carpet. "Have I seen this carpet before?"

At this question, Urahara brightened. "Why, yes! I caught you and your party with this handy contraption four years ago, when you came back from Soul Society through the sky!"

"It wasn't that fast though… Definitely slower than a bullet train." Ichigo said. "How long will it take to get us to Kyoto on that thing?"

Despite the vein that reappeared in his neck upon Ichigo calling his keifu 'the thing,' Urahara gave a smile that would put the Cheshire cat's to shame. "Less than 20 minutes."

Ichigo's mouth fell open. "T…twenty minutes? It wasn't that fast when we rode on it!"

"Whoever said that it went one speed only?" Grinning slyly at the shinigami's shocked faces, he said, "I won't guarantee that you'll be completely safe, though. It's faster than the speed of sound." Standing there and looking at the faces of all the shinigami, he asked, "Now what will your choices be?"

***Keifu = Lightweight Cloth, as mentioned in the dialogue. They never said what the thing that came out in chap182/ep63 that caught Ichigo and co as they came out of the sky was called, so I took the liberty of naming it.**

…

After hearing what Karin had been through, Neliel and Tatsuki sat in grim thought. Finally Tatsuki said, "I still don't think you should have shown your inner hollow any kind of mercy. She said that she would take over the first chance she got."

Neliel however, thought differently. "No, I think that was the right thing to do. The hollow is just another part of her." She turned to look at Tatsuki. "The question is whether you have a spirit like Koutetsu within you as well. You killed your hollow, didn't you?"

To this Karin said confidently, "The spirit existed even before the hollow did. So Tatsuki'll have it, even if she killed her hollow." After all, Koutetsu had said he'd been waiting to meet her for years. "All she has to do is find him."

"Or her." Tatsuki added, frowning at Karin. She always had been a strong defender of the female sex.

"Or her." Karin amended.

Grumpily, Grimmjow jumped into the discussion with all the finesse of an elephant trying to cram itself into an elevator already at maximum occupancy, ravaging it with a rhetorical question for Karin. "So what you were scared of was the darkness? _Darkness_? Really?"

Irritated that he thought she was afraid of petty things, Karin snapped at him, "For all I know, you could have freaked out in the same situation. The darkness grabbing at you… holding you in place…" She widened her eyes and made a mock scary face, wiggling her fingers. Then, abandoning the act, she folded her arms and said crossly, "I wasn't afraid of the dark. I stayed in the pitch-black morgue for over half a day, remember?"

Harrumphing, Grimmjow turned away from her.

"I suppose I should thank you though." Grimmjow looked back at Karin in surprise. "You're the one who made me face my fear." She reminded him.

Smirking at Karin, he said, "Finally, someone who appreciates me. Unlike a certain somebody." He gave a pointed look towards Neliel.

Ignoring Grimmjow as always, Neliel stood up and asked Karin, "Do you want to test out your newfound swords?"

Karin stood up as well. "I would actually like to see you spar against Tatsuki, first." Wincing at her wounds, she added, "And I need time to recover as well."

To Karin's surprise, Tatsuki, always up for a good spar, looked rather pained at the thought of facing Neliel again. At Neliel gleeful face, however, Tatsuki gave a weak smile and said, "Okay…"

This time, Grimmjow came along to look as well. At Karin's puzzled look, he snarled, "Don't treat me like a glass vase. I'll have you know that I'm completely in shape for battle."

Though he had put on a shirt (she supposed he had a wardrobe in this Cubo of Neliel's), Karin poked the area of the stitches on his side would be. He bit back a wince, but she saw the suppressed pain on his face.

"Yeah. Sure."

Nonetheless, he followed them into the training room. By the time Karin had closed the door, Neliel and Tatsuki were already poised to fight. Not wanting to get in the way, Karin led Grimmjow to a corner to spectate the battle.

Without warning, Neliel used sonido. Karin's sharp eyes saw that she had gone to Tatsuki's left; she planned to attack Tatsuki under her left elbow, between her ribs. Tatsuki blocked Neliel's hierro enforced fingers with a right palm filled with reiatsu just before her skin was pierced, and attempted a left hook towards Neliel. Dodging it easily, Neliel instructed while blocking all of Tatsuki's subsequent attacks, "Don't make it too easy for the opponent to read your muscle movements."

As expected of a karate master, Tatsuki immediately corrected herself to the best of her ability and stopped the motions of that made her moves predictable. All draw-backs to her punches, all hip movements prior to her kicks disappeared. Only the moves themselves remained. Even to Karin, who had eyes trained to detect the most minute indicators of movement from fighting Yoruichi, had trouble predicting Tatsuki's attacks.

"My attacks - " Tatsuki punctuated between her punches, "are weaker."

Neliel calmly said, "Then increase your speed." She ducked a jab to her collarbone.

"Easy…" Tatsuki panted, "for you to say!" Making another jab directly towards Neliel's throat this time, she continued, "My attacks are slower as well!"

"You'll never get them faster if you keep _thinking_ that you can't do it." Neliel replied. She blocked an attack aimed towards her left elbow. "That's better. Because your attacks are weaker and slower, you're decreasing unnecessary attacks. Aiming for my joints to demobilize me, to make it harder for me to move or attack. You're getting faster as well." She countered Tatsuki's next kick to her kneecap. "But you need to make sure you're not making any openings while you're attacking." She demonstrated her point by leaping up and pressing two of her fingers to Tatsuki's diaphragm. Tatsuki went tumbling into the ground. But she was up again and fighting Neliel in no time.

She must have twisted her body to lessen the impact, Karin thought, her eyes moving back and forth at the exchange of attacks, keenly analyzing the fight.

Neliel continued to coach Tatsuki as they sparred. "The best thing strategy is to defend yourself and wait until your opponent wears himself down. Or wait for an opening and aim for a soft spot like the eyes and throat. Another fatal spot is the stomach organs, or if you can get past their defense, the heart."

Tatsuki decided to try exactly that. She thrust out her fist, towards Neliel's chest, only to stop and think better of it; there was so much flesh surrounding Neliel's heart (aka her boobs), that attacking it seemed too daunting. Instead, she decided to aim straight for Neliel's face with a front jab packed with spiritual energy.

Noticing this, Neliel nimbly leapt up and lightly stepped on Tatsuki's shoulder out of reach and playfully flicked Tatsuki's head. But apparently this 'playful flick' had an incredible amount of force in it, as Tatsuki went flying. Karin and Grimmjow hastily stepped aside as Tatsuki's body came hurtling through.

Belatedly, Karin realized that she should have been there to cushion the collision, but by the time she had reached out towards Tatsuki, it was already too late. With a thud, Tatsuki slammed into the wall, and slid to the ground.

Grimmjow snorted. "Oh, _that_ move." He was referring to Neliel's flick. "She uses it on me all the time."

Grimacing, Tatsuki staggered up to her feet. She swayed like she was about to fall over, then abruptly disappeared. She was using shunpo, Karin realized. Tatsuki reappeared behind Neliel, who used her arm to block the kick her opponent had delivered. Foreseeing this, Tatsuki twisted her body and used her other leg to kick at Neliel's chest. Though Neliel threw her hands up to defend, she still slid back several feet from the blow.

Neliel lowered her hands and turned to Karin. "What do you think? She's pretty good to land a blow on me."

Karin clapped her hands in applause. "She's improved quite a bit under your tutelage." She turned to Tatsuki and said, "I see that Neliel's taught you shunpo. Or sonido, as arrancar call it."

Gingerly putting a hand on her lower back, the area that had taken the worst of her contact with the wall, Tatsuki said, "I don't think I'm in the best condition to fight right now. That wall is dang hard. And that's not the first time I've taken on the wall before."

"Taken on? That sounds like your actually fighting against wall." Karin raised an eyebrow.

Tatsuki groaned. "And it's always won. There's not even a dent."

"That's because it's – "

"Bala-proof. I know." Tatsuki finished for Neliel, rolling her eyes.

"- and also cero proof." Neliel added.

This new piece of information got Tatsuki's attention. "What's a cero?"

At this, Grimmjow raised his hand and grinned, all too eager to demonstrate. Neliel saw this and said in a dangerously sweet voice, "Don't. Grimmjow. If you dent my house any further, I will personally rip out your stitches."

Lowering his hand, Grimmjow wiggled his eyebrows. "With what? Your teeth?"

Karin groaned and slapped her forehead as Neliel turned pink at the implication. _'I did not need to know that…'_

…

As the shinigami clambered onto the keifu spread out on the grass. Though the keifu was wide, most of the shinigami instinctively huddled together, as if they somehow sensed that it would be safer that way. (It would be… the carpet would be traveling at little lower than 2,500 mph… slower than a fighter jet though, mach 5)

Toushirou clenched his fist over the surface of brown cloth. _'Wait for me, Karin.'_

"Hold on tight, folks." Urahara's profile shone in the moonlight as the keifu rose into the air. "This will be a rough ride."

The shinigami's screams echoed into the night.

…

"Where is the girl? You were to bring her with you. Not leave her in the Kyoto mansion's cell." Aizen asked, though knew perfectly well what the answer would be. "And how did Serpiente get killed in the process?"

The first, third, fourth and seventh Espada, who had returned from Kyoto, stood in front of Aizen who was lounging on his throne as usual.

Opaco fell to her knees and whispered, "Forgive us, sir."

"We left Grimmjow to it." said Marron, as he and Tartarus knelt as well.

"You trusted Grimmjow." Repeated Aizen. "It seems, then, that my Sexta Espada of over four years has betrayed me. How disappointing." He cast a cold eye over them all. "And you, my Espada, have disappointed me equally." Leaning forward in his throne, he whispered with words that nevertheless cracked like a whip, "Failure... is no more forgivable than betrayal." The three kneeling Espada flinched. The Primero Espada alone stood straight and looked Aizen straight in the eye.

"We will recover both him and the experiments." Titiritero growled, glaring at the ex-shinigami who had subjugated them all. All of the arrancar. All of the hollows.

Eyes flickering to Titiritero as if he knew what he was thinking, Aizen tapped the armrest of his throne with his fingers, before saying, "I will forgive you this once. But I will not tolerate a second failure. Go find both the experiments and Grimmjow." Leaning back, Aizen added, "Though the experiments need to be alive, bring Grimmjow as a corpse, if necessary."

…

…

A/N: I would like to give you readers an ETA for the end of this story… but unfortunately, it's not going to end even remotely soon. I've still got waaay more plot points to go. =_=;;


	21. Infiltration

**Chapter 21: Infiltration**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Another half of a plot point down…

…

**Chapter 21**

Infiltration

…

"Did you hear? The fifth Espada, Serpiente-sama, was found dead in this mansion!"

"I saw his body. Whole limbs were torn off. It was a masterpiece."

"Only a sicko like you would think that way."

Murmurs swept through the mansion. Once Serpiente had been discovered dead, a large number of arrancar swarmed over to the mansion, to see the body for themselves. They also found a broken wall in the process, with a morgue full of coffins.

"Two Espada dead in less than a week…"

"I wonder who will become the next Espada." Another arrancar said gleefully.

A female arrancar said in a scornful tone, "You think _you're_ going to become an Espada?"

All the other discussions were also about the Espada selection.

"I hear Aizen-sama tests them with spiritual power and hand-picks them himself!"

"Then I suppose there's no chance any of us can make it." An arrancar said sadly.

The Novena Espada, Clara Luz, stood at the balcony and clapped her hands delicately to get the attention of the arrancar below her. When nobody heard the soft noise, she pursed her lips and pulled out her zanpakutou and sent off a flash of light, blinding all the arrancar within the mansion.

By the time the light faded, the arrancar were whispering, "That's Clara-sama's zanpakutou, Centella Realeza* - "

***Centella Realeza = Lightning Royalty**

"She must want our attention - "

" – she's so beautiful…"

"Dream on, as if she'd ever look at you twice – "

Soon enough, the arrancar were all standing attentively and quietly, facing the balcony that Clara stood at. When she spoke, the arrancar seemed mesmerized. "As you may have heard, the Quinto and Octavo Espadas are dead. And the Sexta Espada is as good as dead to us."

The arrancar broke into murmurs at this. "There are rumors that he killed the Quinto Espada, but that doesn't mean - "

"Killing among the Espadas is common - "

" – not enough to warrant – "

"But why did he – "

Silence fell as Clara started to speak again. "We have been ordered by Aizen-sama to capture Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, former Sexta Espada."

This caused another bout of whispers to erupt across the crowd of arrancar.

" – does that mean there are _three_ seats open?"

" – why is Grimmjow-sama being treated like a criminal – "

Clara raised her voice and the murmurs died away again. "We have been ordered to capture him, and kill him if he resists. He has defected from Aizen-sama's cause, so show him no mercy."

She raised her sword, like a general leading an army into war, and most of the arrancar below roared in approval.

Some, however, looked mutinous, as if they thought Grimmjow had done the right thing. An ex-shinigami, no matter how powerful, was no leader to them.

…

The keifu, along with its frazzled passengers, parked itself in a forest, a fair distance away from an enormous white mansion nestled in a bed of evergreen trees. The white seemed an eerie black-blue in the night. The mansion had about six stories above ground with countless large windows, and covered a seemingly endless amount of ground.

As soon as the keifu had stopped, Renji tumbled off of it into the nearby bushes and started heaving his insides out. The majority of the shinigami sympathized, feeling nauseous as well. Luckily, the other shinigami hadn't eaten dinner, elsewise they'd be puking into shrubbery as well.

"Wow. This place is almost as tall as the Senzaikyu. (Tower of penitence)" Ikkaku whistled.

Shuuhei raised his eyebrows and stated unnecessarily, "And a whole lot wider."

Ichigo said, "When I heard that it was a mansion in Kyoto, I thought it'd be… old-fashioned and traditional. Like the Imperial Palace."

"It seems like the occupants prefer large and luxurious Italian style mansions. Not traditional machiya (old Japanese house)." Urahara said with a shrug.

"This 'Italian-style' has a very different aura to it than the traditional Japanese style." Yumichika commented. "It's more beauti – "

Ikkaku interrupted Yumichika's declaration, "Yeah, yeah, nobody cares." Yumichika gave him an offended look.

Toushirou, who didn't seem the least bit impressed by the mansion, turned to Urahara, "Why can't it take us any closer?" he motioned towards the dreaded carpet.

Before Urahara could answer, someone said, "Because there's a barrier around this mansion." Isshin was examining something invisible in front of him, looking rather like a mime.

Hearing this, the other shinigami moved closer to see for themselves. True enough, they were stopped by an invisible force. Toushirou frowned and placed a hand on the barrier surrounding the mansion and several hundred meters of the forest around it. He pushed, and as expected, it remained impassable.

"Should we break past it?" asked Ichigo.

"No, you fool." Rukia admonished. "Unless you want to alert all the arrancar of your presence and have them attacking you all at once."

Renji, who had finished throwing up all his dinner while the others had admired the mansion, added, "I doubt even you, as powerful as you are, can handle several hundred opponents, no matter if they're small fry.

Rangiku crossed her arms and leaned against the barrier. "So how do we get past it without breaking it, then?" She directed the question to Urahara.

Twirling his cane, the shopkeeper said, "Actually, breaking the barrier wouldn't be such a bad idea." This statement caused all the shinigami to turn and look at him, faces dumbfounded, save for Ikkaku, whose face had spread into a gleeful grin.

"Well, if the former Taichou of the 12th Division approves, I'm all for it!" Ikkaku said brightly, apparently cheerful at the prospect of a severely outnumbered melee.

Shuuhei, the first to recover, exclaimed, "What?"

This protest seemed to cause a chain reaction from the other shinigami. Yumichika said, "Suicide isn't elegant at all." He put a hand to his chin and reconsidered, "Well, unless it's Cleopatra…"

Izuru seconded Yumichika's dissent, "I agree, Urahara-san. Breaking the barrier to go in is suicide."

Playing devil's advocate, Renji argued, "But we thought that five people invading Seireitei to rescue Rukia was suicidal as well. But they succeeded."

"It was six, actually, including Yoruichi-san." Ichigo reminded him.

Slowly, Isshin said to Urahara, "You want us to split up into two groups."

Catching on, Toushirou continued the vein of thought, "The diversion group and the infiltration group."

Urahara pointed his cane to Toushirou. "Bingo!"

Once he processed this, Ichigo asked Renji, "Several hundred arrancar in the mansion, you said?"

"Yeah. If you want an exact number, go ask Hitsugaya-Taichou."

Ichigo turned expectantly towards the 10th Division Captain. "Toushirou?"

Concentrating, Toushirou tried to estimate the number of arrancar in the mansion. "From this distance, I can't give you an exact number like Abarai claims, but my estimate's around four-hundred and fifty."

Ichigo exhaled deeply, as if hardening his resolve. He finally said to Toushirou, "Find my sister. I'll hold off the arrancar."

The silver-haired captain's eyes met the orange-haired shinigami's eyes. Isshin also clapped Toushirou on the shoulder and said, "We're leaving Karin to you."

Urahara watched the exchange between Toushirou and the Kurosaki men with his keen eyes.

Unaware of the pair of eyes observing him, Toushirou beckoned to his lieutenant, implying that she would be part of the infiltration group as well. Ichigo ordered Rukia, "You go with them too."

But Rukia shook her head. "Urahara can go with them. I'm staying with you, stupid."

Briefly holding her head with his hands and gazing into her eyes, Ichigo realized that she wasn't to be dissuaded and relented. Sighing, he took her hand and gently squeezed it. "You're the one who's being stupid." He gave her a sideways glance. "And stubborn too."

"No less than you."

As Shuuhei reluctantly parted with Rangiku, he contacted the science department, requesting for a limit release ahead of time.

As the groups separated, Ichigo unwrapped Zangetsu from his back with one fluid motion. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Ichigo would be the one to break the barrier. He started counting down.

"Ten… nine… eight…" The three in the infiltration team repressed their spiritual pressure and prepared to use shunpo to sprint towards the mansion.

"Seven… six… five…" The diversion team all crouched down into fighting stances, ready to attack as soon as the swarm of arrancar came.

"Four…" Ichigo gripped the hilt more tightly and raised his zanpakutou.

"Three…" Toushirou, in turn, took ahold of his own zanpakutou. He tightly shut his eyes and thought, _'Please be safe, Karin.'_

"Two…"

'_For me…'_

"One!" Ichigo rammed Zangetsu down on the barrier, which glowed a faint gold before splintering into pieces.

…

The four occupants of the Cubo rummaged around the kitchen looking for sustenance, without much luck.

Grimmjow had clean used up all the available ingredients for his cooking spree that morning. And everything he had made for breakfast was long gone, with two arrancar with stomachs like vacuums, nevermind that they didn't even need to eat.

"Ooh! I've got – " Neliel's cry suddenly cut short. "Ugh… this one's expired as well…" She was holding a bag of some substance, it's identity completely hidden by green and white mold.

Having expected something, the other three hung their heads in disappointment, or slapped their foreheads in exasperation.

After searching the corners of the last cupboard, Neliel shrugged apologetically. "Nothing." Glancing at the empty pitcher, she sighed. "Not even water." She gave Grimmjow a reproving look. "What possessed you to use up _all_ the ingredients anyway? All we have left besides _that,_" she pointed at the mystery moldy thing, "is seasoning and sauce." Crossly, she continued, "And they're hardly edible on their own, unless you want to get a heart attack from sodium overdose." Turning back to the two human girls, she reassured, "Don't worry. Even we need water to live, so there's a spring located nearby."

Tatsuki looked somewhat relieved, but said, "What about food?" She looked at Karin, who shrugged. Turning back to Neliel, Tatsuki said, "I mean, we can last a few days without food, but not forever."

Neliel winked, and pushed a lever up. "I'm on that."

The Cubo rumbled, and rose aboveground. Exiting from the square door, which had opened up once again now that the Cubo was no longer underground, Neliel put her hands on her hips and declared, "Okay. We'll each pair up. Karin with Grimmjow, and Tatsuki with me."

"What're we pairing up for?" Karin asked, curious.

The mint-haired arrancar replied sensibly, "This way, it's one arrancar per pair. Only Grimmjow and I know how to open up the Cubo. Tatsuki and I will go and get water, and you and Grimmjow can go to the human world to pick up some food."

Grouchy as usual, Grimmjow pointed at Karin and asked Neliel, "Why do I have to go with her? Can't I just go alone?"

Glaring at him, Karin shot back, "And you think I want to be paired up with _you_?"

Neliel frowned at Grimmjow. "No. You're still injured." As Grimmjow opened his mouth to protest, Neliel quickly covered it with hers, kissing him. He looked taken aback for a moment before closing his eyes and kissing her back, apparently enjoying himself.

Karin and Tatsuki looked on at this public display of affection, unimpressed. After Neliel pulled back, she raised her eyebrows and said, "If you want more of that, then you'll go with Karin." She softened her face and added, "Please, for me?"

Regarding her for a moment, Grimmjow relented, and kissed Neliel on the cheek, wordlessly opening up a garganta.

Privately, Karin was surprised that Grimmjow was able to show such innocent signs of affection. She turned and followed him, saying to Tatsuki and Neliel, "See you guys later!"

Once the garganta closed, there was a moment of silence. Then Karin shrewdly asked Grimmjow, "You're whipped, aren't you?"

He snapped around to give her a death glare. "What. Did you say?" He asked dangerously.

Karin shrugged off his murderous energy, and said nonchalantly, "No need to be ashamed of it. Lots of men, including my brother, are. They act all macho and manly, but get pushed around by their girlfriends." She thought of Ichigo being slapped around by Rukia. Definitely the case.

Grimmjow didn't even deign a reply to that comment.

As they stepped out into the human world, Karin felt a wave of homesickness. Suppressing the thought, and also suppressing her spiritual pressure while she was at it, Karin followed Grimmjow down the unfamiliar street of the human world.

Karin noticed that Grimmjow didn't suppress his spiritual pressure; in fact, he was doing the opposite. She winced as Grimmjow raised his spiritual pressure up to the max. "Is this really necessary?" She looked around them, looking at the people who fainted at the proximity of Grimmjow's tremendous spiritual pressure. "This is overkill. People are dropping like flies."

Without turning a hair, he replied, "I've always done it this way. Why should this time be any different?"

Pretending to think, Karin said sarcastically, "Hmm, why would that be, I wonder? Maybe because you betrayed the arrancar and are now a fugitive?"

"Keh. We'll be done in a moment." Grimmjow said carelessly.

Grimmjow strolled into a grocery store, and at his massive spiritual pressure, everybody in the grocery store lost consciousness and fell to the ground. Spreading his arms, Grimmjow said smugly, "Now, all these choices are available to us."

Karin's jaw dropped at his lack of morality. Not that she'd expected much from him anyways. But to think he'd stoop this low…

"Are you… stealing?"

"Stealing?" Grimmjow looked around with a mock innocent face. "Oh no. We're just collecting tribute for my sparing their lives."

'_Same difference… must be convenient to be amoral.'_ She shook her head. Nonetheless, Karin still reached out to pick a grape off its vine, popping it into her mouth. Maybe the arrancar had rubbed off on her. Or her hunger had simply overpowered her principles. _'I'm a hypocrite…'_ she thought gloomily.

Because the recipe that Grimmjow had in mind required too many ingredients to hold in their arms, they each took a basket for themselves; Grimmjow indifferently, Karin reluctantly.

"You handle the vegetables, I'll take on the meat." Grimmjow instructed.

Karin noted with faint amusement that he used battle terms even in a grocery store, against food. Making a face at his back, she grabbed the first leek she saw. "You do this often, eh?"

Answering (or rather, not answering) with a noncommittal grunt, he briefly examined a packet of beef and tossed it over his shoulder, as if he found it dissatisfying.

Moving onto the onions next, Karin asked, "Where is this market, anyways?" Glancing at the various races of people collapsed around her, she noted, "It must be somewhere in Tokyo where lots of different ethnicities live... Maybe Shibuya?"

The floor around him littered with packets of beef, none of which had met his standards, Grimmjow said absently, "Somewhere in New York…"

Dropping the onion she had picked out, Karin screeched, "New York? You mean we're in the US?"

"Aha!" Finally having found beef worth of flavoring his soup Grimmjow triumphantly put it into his basket, ignoring Karin's blubbering. He crossed over to the tofu section, seemingly looking for 'extra-firm' tofu from a specific brand.

'_Yep. He's basically a chef all right.'_ Karin scrutinized the different packets of mushrooms. Unable to tell the difference between the lot, she just picked up a random one and tossed it carelessly into her basket.

After choosing all the ingredients and picking up a bag of rice, Grimmjow finally opened a garganta back into Hueco Mundo.

Karin hesitated. Ichi-nii… Yuzu… ol' Beardy… Toushirou… her heart clenched at the faces that came to her mind. She shook her head and quickly followed the blue-haired arrancar, who looked impatient waiting in the dark space. She would stand before her shinigami friends once she became stronger and was able to protect herself. When she would no longer be a burden to them, no longer hold them back, she would return.

As they stepped out of the garganta back in front of the dried up tree, Grimmjow again adjusted his position referencing the tree drew a circle with his foot, and stomped on it, summoning the Cubo. Neliel greeted them cheerfully and Tatsuki brightened visibly at the sight of bags and bags of food.

As Neliel made to pull the lever back down the four of them sensed three spiritual entities rapidly approaching.

Looking apprehensive, Tatsuki said, "I think you've been followed."

Neliel turned wrathfully towards Grimmjow. "Were you using your spiritual pressure to knock those poor people out again?"

Grimmjow pretended not to know what she was talking about. "What poor people?"

Placing her hands on her hips, Neliel exclaimed, "Your reckless display of reiatsu was only acceptable back when you were still an Espada! You're a fugitive now!"

Grimmjow growled, "It'll be fine if I just kill 'em."

Shaking her head, Karin looked straight at Grimmjow. "Don't. Leave them for me and Tatsuki to handle." As he scowled, Karin added to appease him, "They're small fry anyways, so what would you gain by fighting them?"

Neliel grinned and put an arm around Grimmjow's neck, placing him in a stranglehold. "Well said, Karin. Tatsuki needs practice. And I want to see your swords in action." Turning to Grimmjow, whose face was rapidly turning blue to match his hair from lack of oxygen, Neliel hastily released him and said, "You and I can just watch from the sidelines today." Grimmjow gasped for air and glared at Neliel.

After glancing at each other, both Karin and Tatsuki flash stepped out to meet the three arrancar.

Seeing the two humans, the three arrancar stopped.

A short arrancar with a mullet licked his lips. "Well well well. We came out here following Grimmjow-sama's scent…"

"But we find the escaped experiments instead." The skinny one finished.

An arrancar with a square jaw and a mask covering the upper-half of his face said, "Aizen-sama will reward us highly for this."

The short arrancar added, "Maybe award us each with an Espada seat, even." His eyes glinted greedily.

"I wonder which of us will –" The skinny arrancar was interrupted by Tatsuki's knee to his face. As he fell back, her foot snapped up to catch him in the jaw. Taking a leaf out of Karin's book, she relieved him of his sword in the process. As he hit the ground with a thump, they other two arrancar exclaimed, "Hey! That's not fair!"

"We weren't finished talking!"

Brandishing the sword she had taken, Tatsuki snarled, "Sorry, you guys gave me so many openings that I couldn't resist. Go on. Keep yammering away amongst yourselves."

As the other two arrancar lunged towards Tatsuki, Karin intercepted the square jawed one.

"Three on one's a little unfair as well, isn't it?" She said, summoning Koutetsu's swords, which now materialized in solid, crimson steel. Karin rushed towards the arrancar, brought her arms together and twisted her body, slicing both swords diagonally across his chest. He collapsed as blood gushed out of his wound; his eyes widened as he gasped out, "Im… possible…" before he died.

Karin didn't even have to turn around to know that the skinny arrancar that Tatsuki had attacked earlier had leapt towards her, his arms raised.

Shifting her grip on her swords, Karin threw her arms back and skewered the arrancar. With a sharp tug, she pulled the swords out of his body, blood spraying from his fatal wounds.

Meanwhile, Tatsuki had just finished off the remaining short one with a spinning kick and a subsequent slash of her purloined sword.

Blinking down at him, Tatsuki stated, "This leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Turning her head away from the body now twitching as it struggled to stay alive, she whispered, "They're still people, even if they have holes in their torsos." Biting her lip, she gave him a mercy stroke. Looking at the arrancar she had slain, Tatsuki dropped the sword beside the body.

Karin couldn't have agreed more. After meeting more humane arrancar like Neliel, killing arrancar had only become more difficult.

As her sword vanished, she stared down at her bloodstained hands, wondering if her brother felt the same way.

…

"Move it!" shouted Ichigo as soon as his sword had broken through the barrier.

Immediately, the infiltration team leapt out of sight into the forest, each making his and her and own way to the mansion. Within seconds, they had reached a close distance with its white walls and gathered up once again behind a grove of trees. Giving each other brief glances to make sure they were all on the same wavelength, Urahara, Toushirou, and Rangiku nodded at each other, leaping up to a second story window. Urahara silently cut a hole with kidou through the glass of the window, and they entered through it.

As soon as they had broken into the mansion, Toushirou put his senses on alert, trying to make out Karin's spiritual energy.

But it was like searching for a drop of water in an ocean. Impossible.

The mansion teemed with arrancar, and therefore reiatsu. But there was hope still, as the arrancar swarmed out of the mansion towards the breach in security.

As they left the room and headed down the corridor, they suddenly reached a fork in the path.

The shopkeeper stepped towards the one on the right while Toushirou started down the left. They stopped in their tracks.

Urahara voiced, "May we split up from here? I think there's a better chance of finding Karin-san that way."

Having thought the same thing anyways, Toushirou briskly nodded and shot down the left corridor, with Rangiku right at his heels. He still didn't trust the man, but if it meant finding Karin...

"What will you do, Matsumoto?"

"I'll stick with you for now, Taichou." She smiled. "If we happen to get attacked by a random group of arrancar, _then_ we can split up."

Toushirou nodded distractedly, his mind focused on finding any trace of Karin, which was getting somewhat easier with drastically fewer arrancar in the mansion.

"Good." He said to himself. "There are only a few arrancar left in this – " He froze as he sensed a spirit.

It was faint from the distance, but familiar nonetheless.

…

…

A/N: …the other half of the plot point will be in the next chapter…


	22. Red Herring

**Chapter 22: Red Herring**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: The other half of the plot point!  
More battle scenes… I wonder why I write so many of these? They're so hard to write well without being repetitive. As it is, I keep on reusing "slice" "slash" "slay" "fight" "battle" etc, etc… hmph.

…

**Chapter 22**

Red Herring

…

Urahara, in the meantime, was following the most recent imprints that Karin's spiritual energy had left. It was different from focusing directly on one's spiritual energy. Only a person who had encountered the sample of the imprint could sense it, assuming he knew what he was doing. Which Urahara did.

He doubted even the 10th Division Captain would be able to discern Karin's spiritual energy from amidst all the arrancar leaving their spiritual energies all over the place. In a place full of an excess of reiatsu, spiritual imprints were far easier to trace than spiritual energy.

As he passed by a large hole in the wall, he felt a particularly strong trace of Karin's spiritual imprint. When he stopped to peer inside, he withdrew his head almost immediately as a foul stench reached his nose.

Wrinkling his nose and waving a hand in front of his face, Urahara said, "The smell of corpse. How lovely."

He continued to trace Karin's spiritual imprint a short distance, before it abruptly disappeared.

Urahara doubled back and organized what he had found out so far. From the strength of the imprint in the morgue, Karin had either been trapped or had hidden herself there.

Where her spiritual energy suddenly cut off, she had been taken to Hueco Mundo, he supposed. Unless she had gone of her own free will.

But if so, how would she access a garganta? Did she have to threaten an arrancar? Had she become powerful enough? Or did an arrancar take her willingly? All in all, it seemed more plausible that she had been dragged off to Hueco Mundo, but he had a strange feeling that wasn't the case.

If he wanted the whole story, then he would have to look at her other reiatsu imprints. _'The staler imprints, then._' He thought as he bounded to the stairs.

…

"Oryaaaaah!" Ichigo sliced through another several arrancar.

Equally merciless, Ikkaku slay every arrancar that came his way, wearing his savage grin. He was clearly enjoying the challenge of the battle royale.

He had shouted before he had jumped into the fray, "My name is Madarame Ikkaku! Carve the name of the one who is about to kill you into your mind!" He hadn't even released his zanpakutou, preferring to fight with a sword in a free-for all. The blade on a sword was longer on a sword than a spear, after all. He saved the spear for one-on-one battles.

On the other hand, Rukia only gained from releasing Sode no Shirayuki. As her pure-white blade swished through the air, she finally used the technique that she had developed while training with Toushirou. She held her zanpakutou horizontally and said, "Fourth dance. Shiroka (white blossom)."

She twirled her blade in a fashion so that it drew a flower in the air. From the trace in the air, ice formed and twirled out in a cyclone of flower shaped ice particles, freezing everything they touched.

Seeing this, Ichigo hastily leapt away from a stray ice flower. "Watch it!" He shouted towards Rukia, as the Getsuga Tenshou he had been firing went off its intended target and nearly took out Renji.

Barely avoiding the destructive power of the Getsuga in time, Renji, in turn, swiveled his head towards Ichigo with a vein popping out of his forehead. "Oi!"

Izuru, who was fighting nearby his captain, called out, "Please be careful." Having said that, he fired off several bakudou spells in quick succession, narrowly avoiding being skewered by an arrancar.

Heading towards his lieutenant, Renji replied, "Speak for yourself, Kira." As he descended, going back-to-back with Izuru, "Oi, Kira!" he shouted over the din of battle.

Irritated that his concentration was broken while he had been focusing on a kidou spell, Izuru forgot to be polite. "What?" He crankily said to Renji.

Snapping the shikai Zabimaru back into place after cutting down three arrancar, Renji stated, "I've killed exactly forty-eight arrancar, so far." Looking cockily over his shoulder, he asked, "What about you?"

Using another kidou spell to bind an arrancar and take a chance to slash him while he was immobile, Izuru exclaimed, "You've been _counting?_"

Snorting, Renji shot back, "What, you haven't?"

Reluctantly, Izura said, "Forty-three…"

Temporarily forgetting about the battle, Renji fist pumped the air. "Yessss!" Afterwards he pokered into a particularly porky arrancar, and shouted, "Forty-nine!"

With a rare flare of competitive spirit, Izuru used kidou and Wabisuke at the same time to finish off two more. "Forty-five!"

Shuuhei shouted, "If you have time to play number games, then use that time to kill even one more arrancar!" and continued to use both kidou and his zanpakutou to shoot down opponents.

But inside, he thought smugly, _'Sixty-one…'_

From a distance, Clara watched the melee with her dark eyes. When she spotted a glimpse of red, she smiled.

"So there you are."

But she would wait until the right moment to make him fall to his knees before her.

…

After retreating back into the Cubo, Grimmjow ambled off to the kitchen with the ingredients, muttering something about missed kills.

Tatsuki sighed.

Neliel slapped her on the back, saying, "Why the sigh? You guys did great out there."

After a moment of silence, Tatsuki said, "I need a weapon of my own." She met Karin's eyes.

Falling back onto a couch, Karin propped up an elbow on an armrest.

"I don't know what it's going to be like for you." Karin told Tatsuki honestly.

Tatsuki shrugged. "Just tell me how you got to that spirit world. I can handle the rest on my own."

Regarding Tatsuki with half-lidded eyes, Karin finally said, "I'm sure you may have tired of it by now, but the key is meditation. Koutetsu called it jinzen state."

Unexpectedly, Tatsuki chuckled. "For you, it's always, 'when in doubt, meditate,' eh?"

Karin laughed outright at this. "I _have_ become like that these days, huh? Be as it may, the one who got me started – " She abruptly stopped midsentence, realizing that she had been about to talk about Toushirou. And by the looks on their faces, Tatsuki and Neliel knew too.

Thankfully, Tatsuki changed the subject. "Well, I'm going to try this jinzen thing." She walked past Karin to the training room.

"Good luck." Karin threw behind her. _'Then again, maybe my inner spirit's the only one who's temperamental.'_

Neliel asked curiously, "Why didn't you go with her?"

Giving Neliel a deadpan glance, Karin said, "Tatsuki's not a little kid. And I need some shut eye." Then she closed her eyes. "For the first time in ages, I might add."

She needed time to recover, after all. The fighting had aggravated the wounds she had sustained in her battle against her inner hollow. She heard Neliel slink off, presumably to the kitchen to join Grimmjow.

Then Karin waited for sleep to claim her. But it was not to be, as she received an unpleasant surprise in the form of tremendous quantities of spiritual pressure. Her eyes flashed open, and she leapt up from the couch.

"Nel, Grimmjow!"

At the same time, the two came out of the kitchen.

"They're just passing. That happens sometimes…" But Neliel herself didn't sound convinced.

Sure enough, the monstrous reiatsu stopped right above them.

Cold sweat trickling down her neck, Karin balled up her spiritual energy as tightly as possible, not letting a single drop leak out, lest the arrancar above feel it. She felt Neliel do the same. But Tatsuki, seemingly unaware of all this, kept radiating her spiritual energy. _'Is she still meditating? At this rate, we'll be found out…' _Karin thought. Uncertainly, she asked, "We're underground, so they can't find us… right?"

Her question was answered from a dull boom from above. They were trying to blast the sand away. Eyes widening, dread filled Karin. "Do you know how many arrancar are up there are?"

Neliel closed her eyes and concentrated. After a moment, she opened her eyes and her face turned grim. "No less than four Espada." Slapping a hand to her face, she groaned, "They must have suspected that we were here, and sent the three numeros out as bait to make sure. We have to - "

She was interrupted by another blast, which sounded much closer.

"What are those noises?" Karin asked fighting to stay calm.

"Gran ray ceros." was Neliel's grim reply. "They're trying to force us out."

An even closer blast echoed, accompanied by a flash this time.

Neliel tried to make light of the situation. "Well, I guess my house will soon be the Rectangulo instead of the Cubo. I always wanted to change the shape." She laughed weakly.

Flexing his hands, Grimmjow said, "My hands were beginning to itch anyways."

Another brighter flash and the Cubo started to shake in earnest.

Karin couldn't believe that Tatsuki could stay immersed in her meditation state in a situation like this. She summoned both her swords. "About how many more of these 'gran ray ceros' can the Cubo stand?"

"Just about two - "

The Cubo shook again even harder, and an even louder rumble sounded, coupled with an even brighter flash of light.

"Well, now it's one more."

A final splintering crash, as well as a blinding light came.

Though the dust obscured the Espadas' identities above, they could see the ceiling of the Cubo was blown off. When the sand settled, the three inside the Cubo, now partially missing a ceiling, saw four figures: De Pie, Opaco, Marron, and Caballero. Upon seeing the last figure, Karin's eyes widened.

Looking bored, Marron stared down at her, and said, "If you hadn't run, then none of this would have happened." His eyes slid over to Neliel, and he raised an eyebrow.

As if thinking the same thing, Caballero took off his hat and bowed. "What an unexpected surprise. Neliel-san."

Opaco's purple eyes, however, were trained upon Grimmjow. "Do you have any idea how much your betrayal cost us?"

Grimmjow shrugged, the epitome of disinterest. "Apparently not much. All your limbs are attached." Looking up at her with his blue eyes, he smirked. "Unlike a certain snakey boyfriend of yours."

In the blink of an eye, there was a blast; Grimmjow leapt out of the way as Opaco struck. There was a smoking crater where her attack had hit.

Standing some distance away, a smile played on Grimmjow's lips. "Oh, hit a nerve there, did I?"

"Shut up!" She charged towards him again, an attack he easily dodged.

Hooking his thumbs into his pockets and assuming a leisurely posture, "Were you always this weak, Opaco?" He continued to dodge her wild swings. "Or is it because of Serpiente's death that you're so shaken up?" In order to rile her up, Grimmjow taunted her even more. "How'd you guys kiss anyways? With that hideous fang mask of his and all."

"I told you to shut up!" Radiating unsuppressed anger, Opaco released her zanpakutou. "Petrificar*, Gorgon!"

***Petrificar = to turn to stone **(kinda obvious, no?)

With a teeth-baring grin, Grimmjow said, "You should've come out like that in the first place."

Meanwhile, Neliel had gracefully leapt out of the Cubo to land in front of Caballero. She civilly addressed him, "You've risen up in rank quite a bit since I left. Working hard, I suppose?"

Laughing, Caballero placed his white top hat back on his head. "You overestimate me. I merely carry out Aizens-sama's orders."

Showing first signs of hostility, Neliel raised her chin and questioned, "So what're your orders this time, pray tell?"

"Nothing much." He took out his pocket watch and inspected the surface. Flicking it open and spotting a fingerprint, he next took out a handkerchief to polish it. "Take care of Grimmjow. Bring back the prisoners. Just the usual." Faint squeaking noises sounded as the handkerchief rubbed against the glass surface of the watch's face.

Narrowing her eyes, Neliel observed. "I notice I'm not included in these orders."

Satisfied that his pocket watch was finally clean, Caballero tucked it away back to its place in the pocket in his suit jacket. "That's because you are an unexpected variable."

Neliel crossed her arms. "What do you plan to do about this 'unexpected variable' then?

Turning his back on Neliel, Caballero said simply, "Nothing. You weren't included in my orders. You can walk away from this battle if you wish."

For the first time, Neliel's amber eyes were filled with rage.

"And if I refuse?" A golden energy emanated from Neliel's body.

Caballero paused and turned his head. Green eyes met gold, and he said, "That would be a pity. I would have no choice but to take your life."

Unsheathing her sword, Neliel snarled, "Better you take my life than I just stand and watch my friends die."

With this, Karin was left with the two other Espada, Marron and De-Pie. She supposed that Grimmjow and Neliel had their hands full with the other Espada, but if _they_ couldn't handle two Espada, _she_ certainly couldn't. Besides, wasn't the maroon haired one the new Tercera Espada? But having no other choice, she jumped out of the Cubo as well to face them. She surreptitiously looked towards the area Tatsuki was still training in. The roof there remained intact, if only barely. She sighed a private sigh of relief. With more bravado than she felt, she called out, "So which one of you first? Or would you guys prefer to team up?"

De-Pie spat on the ground at this. "Team up? Against you, ah?"

At the same time, Marron said, "Me? Team up with this trash?" He jerked his chin towards De-Pie.

De-Pie grabbed Marron's collar and said, "Bastard! What did you say, ah?"

"Relax, I was just joking." But his face was anything but, and Marron took ahold of De-Pie's hand and gripped it as if to crush it.

De-Pie face was contorted in a poorly hidden grimace as he tried in vain to extricate his hand. Eventually, Marron let go.

"I will go help Opaco. De-Pie, you handle this experiment on your own." In a flash, he had disappeared.

This left Karin facing De-Pie alone. He had a very ugly look on his face, but Karin did not recoil. On the contrary, Karin observed, "You have an inferiority complex."

With a positively dangerous face expression, De-Pie pulled out his sword. Realizing that she had struck gold, Karin continued to probe at his sore spot.

"Tell me, what number Espada are you? You aren't dead last, are you?"

He growled in response, "Aizen-sama told me to bring you alive. But he won't miss your tongue, ah?"

At this, she summoned her twin blades, and De-Pie cocked his head in surprise.

"Oh? So you've already reached the materialization stage, ah?" Then he shrugged, "Oh well." and attacked.

Trying to understand what he said, Karin frowned. _'Materialization stage?'_ She thought. But she found that she had her hands full with focusing on the battle, as she blocked the hand he tried to strike her with. "You're going to have to do better than that." She forced him back. "I suggest you use your sword." She sliced down with one blade and up with the other. He blocked both with his hierro. _'It seems like his hierro is stronger than most.'_

She shoved more spiritual energy into the blades, and tried again. De-Pie grinned. "Bet you're wondering why you can't cut me, ah?"

Realizing that she would be playing right into his hands if she did, Karin replied coolly, "Not particularly."

Putting more spiritual energy into her swords, she stabbed ferociously at the area where his heart should have been. But her blades could not pierce his hierro. Cursing, Karin hurled herself back to avoid his hand swipe. "Don't try and hide it. It's bothering you, ah? Why you can't cut me with your weak swords."

He finally landed a blow on her, and Karin's whole left side went numb. She barely kept her grip onto her sword. What were his hands made of, steel?

Grinning painfully, Karin repeated, "I told you I'm not interested."

Even though it was a gamble since swords were heavy, spiritual or not, she switched her left sword to her right, and briefly held both swords in her right hand. Then the two swords melted together. _'It worked!'_

Grimly thinking that if this didn't do it, nothing would, Karin ran towards De-Pie, ramming the last of her remaining reiatsu into the sword. Koutetsu's blade bit deeply into his right shoulder, and giving it an extra push, Karin sliced the arm right off.

"Aaarghhhhh!" De-Pie let out a blood curdling scream.

"That's what you get for playing with your food, De-Pie." Said an unsympathetic voice. To Karin's horror, Marron had already returned, with Opaco draped over his shoulder. Had he already defeated Grimmjow? She knew he still hadn't recovered completely, but…

To her immense relief, Grimmjow was still standing. But his stitches were ripped out, and his breathing was ragged.

Suddenly, he rasped, "Kishire, Pantera," and transformed.

Even though he had transformed, he couldn't help that he was still in terrible shape, Karin thought. "Grimmjow! We have to retreat!" she shouted.

He growled, "That word's not in my dictionary!"

Meanwhile, Neliel was also in bad shape against Caballero.

Though Caballero had released his zanpakutou, there were no outward changes to his appearance.

"Give up. You have no chance, not unless you know Fata Morgana's power." He twirled his zanpakutou, which also had no outward changes. "Go, and I will not chase you."

Tightening the corners of her mouth, Neliel ground out, "Not… a chance… Not without my comrades." She saw that Grimmjow had released his zanpakutou. With a spurt of strength, she used sonido to get to him. She tugged at his arm. "Let's regroup. At this rate, we'll all die."

Grimmjow spit out blood from his mouth, and wiped the edge of his mouth with the back of his wrist."You of all people should know that I won't do that." Glancing at her, however, Grimmjow said, "You take the others and run."

Neliel shook her head furiously. "No."

Though he sounded mostly impatient, Grimmjow's voice was also tinged with desperation.

"Please. For me."

Ignoring the battlefield around them, Neliel turned Grimmjow around and shook him, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. "You dummy! You think I'd leave you?"

Grimmjow's face was pained as he said, "Stupid… you know I'm weak to your tears." He buried his fingers in her hair as he hugged her to him.

The other arrancar watched this display, until Marron drawled, "As heartrending as this all is, it's time for you to die." He then unleashed his full spiritual power, caring not a whit for Opaco who was still slung over his shoulder. That wasn't enough to make Karin stagger, but Caballero's combined spiritual pressure made her fall to one knee. Gritting her teeth, Karin used her sword to struggle to her feet and shouted, "Get away! Take them and get away! Neliel!" She didn't dare say Tatsuki's name; if they found out that another experiment was present, they would take her as well. So she tried to communicate with her eyes, desperately looking towards the relatively unbroken part of the Cubo. "Neliel, Take them both and get away _now_! They won't harm me; I'm an experiment!"

At this, Neliel realized what Karin was saying. Karin would let them capture her to allow them to get away. She met Karin's eyes for an instant, and nodded almost imperceptibly. Her eyes said, _'We'll rescue you, definitely.'_ She abruptly knocked Grimmjow out and leapt inside the Cubo, to where Tatsuki was.

Karin immediately set to work on distracting the arrancar. She was starting to feel her left side again, so she chanced separating her blades once again. Brandishing them, she challenged, "I cut off iron-man's arm. Who's next?" She looked out of the corner of her eye at Neliel who now carried both Grimmjow and Tatsuki, escaping unnoticed.

Caballero looked on with amusement, and Marron stepped forward. "You, experiment, will have to come with us."

Karin arranged her face into a smile. "I won't go without a fight." They had gotten away safely. That was good enough for her.

…

Toushirou stopped dead in his tracks as he felt a familiar spirit.

"No… It can't be…"

"What's wrong, Taichou?" Rangiku asked, confused. "Did you find Karin?"

'_That's right, Karin…'_ He shook his head, and straightened his priorities. "That's right. Karin comes first."

He resumed his fast-paced shunpo, but it was Rangiku who froze this time. She furrowed her brow. This spiritual pressure… "Sorry, Taichou, but I think it'll be faster if we split up. I'll go down first."

Too distracted to notice the incongruity with what she had initially said, Toushirou nodded.

Rangiku headed to the basement, thinking that her senses were fooling her. _'But there's no mistaking this energy.'_

On the way down, she bumped into Urahara, who leapt back and held onto his hat. He had been following the staler traces of Karin's spiritual imprint. "Oh? Rangiku-san. What a surprise to see you here."

Waving him aside, Rangiku said hurriedly, "There's no time for this. We're both obviously in a hurry. Let's go, if we're headed towards the same place."

As they rushed down the stairs, Urahara asked, "May I ask where your destination is?"

Rangiku said breathlessly, "I thought I felt someone I had long assumed was dead down here. So I'm going where the spiritual energy is leading me."

Urahara thought, _'So they haven't realized that I haven't told them the whole truth yet.' _They reached the bottom of the stairs, and to his surprise, Rangiku turned the same way as he had intended to go. The gears in his mind started turning. _'Long assumed was dead… in the same place where Karin-san was…'_

He skidded to a stop in front of a dungeon. "I guess we part ways here."

Without looking back, Rangiku continued down the hallway. Looking curiously after her, Urahara continued to think about the seemingly unconnected coincidences. He turned back to Karin's spiritual imprint. Examining the sets of chains, one set cut with what looked like a blade, he mused out loud, "Karin-san was definitely here… So if she was locked away here, then the morgue upstairs was a hiding place. So she managed to convince an arrancar to unlock a garganta for her."

She had gone of her own free will, so chances were that she had thought of a good place to hide. Had she met an ally? Ichigo seemed to have a few allies among arrancar. He would have to ask. He would have to return from reconnaissance back to the diversion team. But first, he had to find Toushirou.

…

_'Where is Karin?' _Toushirou was on the verge of of tearing his hair out when Urahara found him. When he saw Urahara, he immediately rushed over to ask, "Is there any trace of her?"

Taking a deep breath Urahara said, "To tell you the truth, this mansion was a red herring."

Toushirou felt his blood run cold, and not from fear, either.

From fury.

"You mean to tell me this whole thing… this mansion… was a hoax?" he snarled. His hand immediately went to grip the sword strapped to his back.

Urahara calmly replied, "Not completely, no. There were imprints of Karin-san all over the mansion. She's now in Hueco Mundo." He added after a moment, "Probably of her own free will."

"How do you know that?" Toushirou asked, lowering his hand. "And how do I know I can still trust you?"

Simply, Urahara said, "You don't. But if I can't find Karin-san, who can?"

…

Reaching the end of the passageway, Rangiku felt the spirit stronger than ever. She saw a doorway, and immediately knew that the presence was past the door. Slowing down, Rangiku swallowed.

Gently, she pushed the door open.

She saw a familiar face staring back at her, but the brown eyes were blank and emotionless.

"Hina…mori…?"

…

…

A/N: Pardon my caricatures of the minor characters. I don't have enough creative energy to spare on them. =_=  
But… I _finally_ reached the peak of the plot! From here on out is the exciting part! Hitch your seatbelts on folks, you're in for a rough ride!  
Not really, but I wanted to say that just once.


	23. Familiar Face

**Chapter 23: Familiar Face**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Yesssss.

…

**Chapter 23**

Familiar Face

…

"Hina…mori…?"

Blank brown eyes stared at her, as if she didn't recognize who Rangiku was.

The Momo-look-alike said, "Who… are you?" Tilting her head, she said, "You look familiar…"

Reaching out with a hand, Rangiku took a step forward. "Is it really you? Hinamori Momo?"

Brow furrowing, Momo slowly questioned, "Do you know me?"

Exhaling, Rangiku breathed, "It _is_ you. But how are you still - ?"

But Momo interrupted, saying to the shadows behind her, "My head hurts. Please take her away. I am tired."

'_No… Hinamori wasn't like this. This is just her shell…' _Rangiku thought.

As two arrancar stepped from the shadows, Momo suddenly held up her hand for them to stop.

"On second thought, bring her here." She held out her palm and something glinted. "We shall make her another experiment."

Eyes widening, Rangiku made to escape, but the door clanged shut before her, blocking her path. Whipping around and unsheathing her zanpakutou, Rangiku crouched and said, "Fine. I'll have to get out of here by force, then."

She released her zanpakutou, and the grains of metal floated around like mist. The fine shards of her zanpakutou separated into two clouds, and at Rangiku's command, each attacked an arrancar.

Momo watched. "…Haineko…" she whispered.

Hearing this, Rangiku was confused. _'She knows my zanpakutou's name... Did she really die? Or did she just lose her memories?'_ She shook her head. _'No, I saw her body. She can't be…'_ But the corpse could have been removed, reanimated. She didn't know how it could possibly be reanimated but maybe they had found some way to do it. Forcing her mind back to the battle at hand, Rangiku noted with satisfaction that the arrancar were blinded by Haineko's attack. Surreptitiously shifting a slight bit of Haineko's dust to the lock, she began to secretly pick the lock with the dust.

Trying to distract Momo – not that she needed much, she was basically zoning out all the time – Rangiku stated, "You remember my zanpakutou name."

"Zan…pakutou…" Momo looked down at the left of her waist. "I think... I used to have one... she was called Tobi - " Suddenly, she clutched at her head. "Augh! No! It hurts!" She whimpered, "It hurts… no, stop… please…"

"Hinamori-sama!" The arrancar stumbled over to her, still blinded, but faithful nonetheless. "Hinamori-sama! Please get a hold of yourself!"

Rangiku edged towards the door, and heard a soft click as the door opened. _'Yes!'_

Slamming the door shut behind her, she dashed out of the room, Rangiku started flash stepping for her life.

She pinpointed Toushirou, who was with Urahara, and rushed up the stairs to meet them. Should she tell her taichou that his childhood friend was still alive? Biting her lip, Rangiku made a difficult decision. This news could wait until after they had found Karin.

…

Karin stood in the sand, surrounded. Two Espada were down, but the two stronger ones remained. _'I really don't stand a chance against these arrancar.'_ she thought. Her spiritual energy had nearly tanked as well. She lost in both numbers _and_ in power. But Karin had said that she wouldn't go without a fight, so fight she would. She bent her knees, preparing to move at the slightest hint of movement from either of the two arrancar before her.

Deciding to break the stalemate, Marron dropped Opaco to the ground. Karin threw a sword at him, using the last drops of her spiritual energy to accelerate it. She had aimed for his heart, but his movements were quick enough to avoid a fatal wound. Instead, he merely sustained a shallow cut on his side. He looked with disgust down at this wound and grabbed Karin around the neck.

"You dare make a wound on my body?"

Karin couldn't answer, but she managed a strained grin.

De-Pie roared, "Don't touch my prey!"

Though he had been watching passively the whole time, Caballero intervened, if only with words. He warned them both in a casual voice, "If you harm her, I will personally rip out your arms." Giving a wry look towards De-Pie, he rectified, "Well, the other arm, in your case." He smiled at them. "You know how I hate to get my suit bloody, so please don't force me to resort to that." Going over to Opaco, he picked her up. "And where on earth did you learn to treat a lady that way? She's injured."

When Marron reluctantly released her by a minimal amount, Karin, who had slowly been choking, with much difficulty, sipped in a breath.

Noticing this, Marron tightened his grip once again, and Karin's vision began to tunnel from lack of oxygen.

"Go to sleep, damn bitch."

…

The rest of the shinigami immediately noticed as the infiltration team exited the mansion. As they joined the fray, Ichigo fought off a hollow and went over to them, scattering arrancar on the way. He asked, "Where's Karin?"

Toushirou shook his head wordlessly, and vehemently speared an arrancar who got too close. Crestfallen, Ichigo said, "She's not here?"

Urahara answered, "Nope." popping the 'p.'

Grabbing him by the collar, Ichigo asked him furiously, "What's the meaning of this, Urahara-san?" Without looking, he shot off another Getsuga Tenshou, which took out an arrancar standing unawares.

Looking at him from underneath the brim of his hat, Urahara said, "I'll explain later. We're on a battlefield now, so I suggest you withdraw before you do anything to me."

Still glaring at Urahara, Ichigo yelled, "Guys! We're going back!"

"Get back to the keifu!" Toushirou said.

Hearing this, the other shinigami who had slowly begun to tire, retreated.

As they flash stepped back to the keifu, Ichigo growled at Urahara, "That explanation better be damn good."

Smiling secretively, Urahara said, "That's for you to decide."

…

When Tatsuki opened her eyes, she felt a wind on her face, and found that she was being carried on Neliel's shoulder.

"Nel?"

"Tatsuki. You're awake. Did you meet your spirit?" She sounded breathless.

"Yes, but…" Confused, Tatsuki asked, "What happened? Why are you running?"

"Do you mind if I put you down?" Neliel gasped out.

As Tatsuki climbed down from Neliel's shoulder, she gaped at the sight of Grimmjow, torn up and bloody, on Neliel's other shoulder.

Correctly interpreting Tatsuki's face, Neliel informed her, "Four Espada attacked while you were meditating."

Horrified, Tatsuki's eyes widened. She noticed that Neliel too was bleeding from several wounds. Then worried about Karin, she looked around. "Where's Karin?"

Neliel's face turned stony. "She stayed back."

Tatsuki frowned, convinced she had heard wrong. "What?"

"She stayed back." Neliel repeated, and closed her eyes, as if she didn't want to admit it.

"Why? Why would she stay back?" Tatsuki exclaimed.

"Questions later. First we have to make sure her sacrifice wasn't in vain." Glancing nervously around, Neliel said, "We should be far away enough."

"For what?" Still unable to grasp the situation, Tatsuki asked yet another question.

"For them to be unable to sense a garganta opening." Setting Grimmjow gently down, she asked Tatsuki, "Help me with him."

Tatsuki hastily put Grimmjow's arm over her shoulder as Neliel drew a line horizontally in the air. Like before, a garganta opened. Heaving Grimmjow's other arm over her shoulder, Neliel said, "Let's go through."

They stepped through, like an awkward six-legged turtle with useless middle legs.

Tatsuki saw achingly familiar buildings and houses. "We're back…" She breathed.

"Yes." Neliel confirmed. Turning to Tatsuki, whose face was partially hidden by Grimmjow's blue hair, Neliel asked, "You're Ichigo's friend. Do you know the way to his house?"

Nodding, Tatsuki slowly led the way to the Kurosaki Clinic.

…

Back in the Urahara shop, the shinigami had entered their respective bodies and gigai, waiting for the shopkeeper to explain what was going on.

"Well?" Shuuhei asked. "What did we fight all those arrancar for, if not to recover Ichigo's younger sister?"

"Yeah, spit it out!" Ichigo demanded harshly. "Why'd you lie to us?"

"I didn't lie to you." Urahara looked seriously at them. The shinigami grew quiet. "I was telling the truth when I said that Karin-san was at the mansion."

"Key word being _was_." Toushirou frowned.

Managing to not look abashed at all, Urahara conceded that point. "Yes, well, I needed to make sure of something."

"Which was…?" Isshin seemed rather ticked off at Urahara as well.

"After Karin-san was captured and taken to a cell, she somehow escaped. Arrancar may or may not have helped her, but I am inclined to think that she did indeed receive assistance."

"Why is that?" Rukia questioned.

Urahara answered, "Because Karin-san used a garganta to escape."

There was silence after this proclamation.

"How did you find all this out?" Toushirou spoke. "I couldn't sense any trace of Karin."

"And how did you trace her? By trying to sense her spiritual energy?" Fixing a gray eye on Toushirou, the shopkeeper demanded an answer for a question he already knew the answer to.

Frowning, Toushirou said, "Yes. How else would I do it?"

Pointing his fan at Toushirou, Urahara said, "I was hoping you'd ask that question!" Smugly, he continued, "The answer lies with the 'spiritual imprint!'"

At this point, Izuru slowly said, "You mentioned that you were tracking her down with a sample of her spiritual energy… Is that what you mean by 'spiritual imprint?'"

"Correct. Tracking down spiritual imprints is much more accurate than using the usual faint trails of spiritual energy that one leaves behind. And from the strength of these spiritual imprints, I could estimate how much time she spent in one place. A spiritual imprint is comparable to DNA; but no matter how careful and meticulous you are, you can't erase it. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that she likely went to Hueco Mundo of her own free will, and now ask," he turned to Ichigo, "Whether you have any arrancar allies or not."

Realization dawned upon Ichigo. "…Yes. I do have some people you can vaguely categorize as allies…" Suddenly, he stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Rukia asked, worried.

Ichigo said, "I feel Tatsuki. Nearby my house." Brow furrowing deeper, he added, "Nel and Grimmjow, too."

'_Aha. So those are the arrancar who might have helped Karin-san.'_ Out loud, Urahara said, "What of Karin-san?"

Scowling, Ichigo shook his head. "Nothing."

Isshin stood up and dusted his clothes off, saying, "Well, they're near my home, so I'd better go welcome them. Who's coming?"

Ikkaku yawned and lay back, obviously not intending to go anywhere. "Ya'll go without me. Not interested in meeting any arrancar I can't fight."

Because Ikkaku opted to stay, Yumichika too, did the same.

The rest of the shinigami all chose to go, curious as to what this Grimmjow and Nel looked like.

As they neared the Kurosaki Clinic, the shinigami saw a queer silhouette, looking much like a demented, six-legged camel missing a head.

"Ichigo…"

A street lamp cast a light on them, and revealed a green haired-woman and black-haired woman, supporting a blue-haired man.

"Nel! Tatsuki!" Spotting the state Grimmjow was in, Ichigo was taken aback. "What the hell happened to him?"

"Can we go inside first?" Tatsuki asked in an irritated voice. "This guy is heavy."

After examining the situation, Isshin took charge. "He's in dire need of medical attention." He briskly relieved the girls from their burden. "Ichigo! Give me a hand with this guy!"  
Isshin unlocked the clinic and Ichigo hauled Grimmjow in. Renji, in the meantime, assisted Tatsuki and Neliel into the clinic, and they gave him grateful looks.

Ichigo dusted off his hands after he lay Grimmjow down on a hospital bed. He asked once again, "So what happened to Grimmjow?"

As Isshin tended to Grimmjow, Neliel collapsed onto a hospital bed, and said, "Four Espada came chasing after Grimmjow and Karin after they visited the human world…"

Isshin paused in his ministrations; Ichigo and Toushirou momentarily stopped breathing. Toushirou asked first, "Karin? Kurosaki Karin was with you?"

Wearily, Neliel nodded her head.

"What happened to her?" Ichigo asked, but sensing that Neliel was too tired to speak, Rukia hurriedly suggested, "Why don't you just show us your memories? We have tools for that."

"Good idea, Kuchiki." Turning to Neliel, Toushirou asked, "Will you permit us to examine your memories?"

Eyes fluttering shut, Neliel nodded her head. "Starting about three days ago will do…"

They set to work, Rukia downloading Neliel's memories and Izuru helping Isshin heal Grimmjow's wounds using kidou spells.

But then they heard the creaking of the door connecting the clinic to the Kurosaki house.

Everybody froze.

Yuzu stood there, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Nnn… What's all this noise…?"

She stopped when she saw everybody, including a few others she didn't know – like Renji, Shuuhei, and Izuru – in the clinic. Her eyes traveled over them, confused. "Daddy, Onii-chan… Who are…"

Her eyes landed on Tatsuki, who had fallen back onto a chair in the waiting room, and she gasped. "Tatsuki-chan!" she exclaimed, all the sleep suddenly chased away. "Thank goodness… Thank goodness you're alive!" She ran over to Tatsuki, who stood up and enclosed her arms around the girl. "Where were you all this time?" Yuzu sobbed. Leaning back and looking up at Tatsuki's face, which suddenly looked awkward, she decided that it didn't matter. "Oh, who cares… At least you're back safe." Sniffing, Yuzu wiped her tears away and said, "Now if only Karin-chan came back as just as safe and sound…"

Tatsuki looked away guiltily. She knew that Karin had stayed behind to help her escape.

But Yuzu, who had already moved on to Shuuhei, Renji, and Izuru, didn't see the distraught look. "Did you bring Tatsuki-chan back?"

Taken aback by this conclusion, the three shinigami could only garble out a confused statement meaning neither yay nor nay. Yuzu just took this to mean that they had indeed found Tatsuki just in time to keep her from being "poisoned" and bowed her head, and thanking them. "Thank you so much! You've saved someone like an older sister to me."

At such an enthusiastic show of gratitude, Izuru cheeks turned pink. Renji leaned over and whispered to Tatsuki, "Is she always like this? Jumping to conclusions on her own?"

Tatsuki shrugged. "Not always. But she does have a tendency to think what she wants to think."

"Hm."

Isshin ushered Yuzu out of the room. "Now, now, Yuzu. You need your beauty sleep, don't you? Let Daddy take care of things here." He realized that he had made a mistake; Yuzu couldn't see the injured arrancar.

"Take care of...?" Yuzu questioned, clearly confused. "Do you have patients here?"

Quickly, Isshin said, " Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep."

Though Yuzu became suspicious, she let it slide. "Good night then."

As she closed the door behind her, Yuzu sighed. She had known that Ichigo and Karin were hiding something from her as of late. Now, even her father. The mysterious "college students" who had suddenly become Ichigo's friends… Karin's disappearance… Tatsuki's disappearance… They seemed to all have something to do with each other, but Yuzu couldn't figure out what. Looking down at her bunny slippers, Yuzu wished there was something she could do.

She padded back into her room, which seemed empty without Karin in it. Instead of going back to her own bed, she slid into Karin's bed and buried her head into the pillow, full of Karin's scent. "Karin-chan…"

…

Opening her eyes, Karin found herself lying on a cold floor.

As she sat up with a groan, she discovered she had a splitting headache, and her neck area felt tender. A small comfort was that she wasn't chained this time.

"You're awake."

Karin groaned again. "Ugh. It's you."

The gentleman feigned a hurt expression. "Why do you have such an aversion to me?"

Turning to him and raising an eyebrow, Karin returned the question right back at him. "You mean you don't know?" She said sarcastically.

Standing up and dusting off his white suit, Caballero changed the subject. "Aizen-sama ordered me to escort you to him once you awoke."

He held out a hand for her to take. Karin looked at it sullenly and raised her face to glare rebelliously at him. Crossing her arms and legs, she made it clear that she wouldn't move.

Caballero sighed. "Titiritero?"

Karin turned around sharply; she hadn't known another arrancar was present. A blonde arrancar that Karin recognized as the first Espada stood leaning against the wall.

"I have no obligation to help you, _Segundo._"

Looking Titiritero straight in the eye, Caballero raised a regal eyebrow. "Oh? Do you mean to tell me that you're refusing to follow Aizen-sama's orders?"

Staring at Caballero with his hard blue eyes, Titiritero reluctantly twitched his fingers.

Karin's body jerked. She felt her arms and legs uncross, and stood up against her will. Bewildered, Karin swiveled her head, and found that it was the one thing she could move of her own will. Soon, she spotted the reason why her body was moving without her telling it to. Titiritero, with a sour look on his face, had raised his hand and was moving his fingers.

She tried to resist, but the Primera Espada's reiatsu overpowered hers.

As she quit her futile attempts at trying to escape Titiritero's power, Karin instead settled for looking angry. Soon enough, she found herself in a large chamber, with a single large throne in the center. Several hundred arrancar surrounded the throne, which was occupied by a brown-haired man with a deceptively benign expression on his face.

As she approached, he spoke. "You must be Kurosaki Karin."

Karin replied, "And you must be Aizen."

Several arrancar hissed at her impertinence, but Karin stood her ground.

Malice showing through his face for the first time, Aizen said to Titiritero, "Have her kneel before me."

Titiritero obliged with a small movement of his fingers, and Karin found herself forced to her knees. Karin glared up at Aizen through her black curtain of hair.

"I like those eyes." Aizen commented, paradoxically pleased by her murderous glare. "So what do you think of her? Pawn? Rook? Bishop?"

"She has already reached the materialization stage." Supplied Caballero.

Surprise showed on Aizen's face. "Oh?" He regarded her with his brown eyes. "So I suppose that you'll do well as a bishop."

"I would die before I would ever serve you." Karin spat out.

Drumming his fingers lightly against his throne, Aizen cocked his head and his lips twisted into a smile. "We'll see about that." He snapped his fingers, and promptly two arrancar came forward and grabbed Karin's arms. She struggled against their grip to no avail. She had already long run out of spiritual - not to mention physical - energy.

They brought her in front of Aizen, who stood up from his throne and put a hand under her chin to force her to look him in the eyes. "You will want to serve me soon enough."

Suddenly, she felt a wave of sleepiness. Karin felt her eyelids droop, and no matter how hard she tried to keep them open, they felt too heavy. She managed, "What… are you… doing…"

The last thing she saw was Aizen's triumphant smile, before she lost consciousness.

…

After Rukia had finally extracted all the memories, the shinigami gathered round. "I will fast-forward through the unnecessary parts." Rukia announced. Kneeling, she pressed a button on the cellphone-like device, and the memories started playing. It started out with Tatsuki and Karin supporting Grimmjow.

Ichigo asked once again, "What happened to Karin? Why isn't she with you guys?"

Tatsuki looked away. "I think it'll be better for you to see for yourself."

Filled with dread at this statement, the shinigami watched the memory. Once it reached the part about them talking about the black-haired and brown-eyed woman, Rangiku breathed in sharply. No one else took notice.

But Toushirou felt a twinge of unease at the description. That, coupled together with the spiritual energy he had felt at the mansion… Shaking his head, he thought, _'That can't be. It's just coincidence.'_

When the subject of him and Karin being lovers came out, Toushirou struggled to keep the embarrassment off of his face.

Tatsuki asked Renji quietly, "Which one is Toushirou?" She looked at him and questioned, "Is it you?"

"No, no, no… It's the white-haired one." Renji replied, sniggering. "He's better than I thought, though. To snag one in such a short period of time…"

As Tatsuki eyed Toushirou with interest, Ichigo glanced at Toushirou.

"Is that so?" Ichigo asked wryly. "That explains many things."

Rukia admonished, "Shh! Listen!"

Izuru ticked off the names and ranks of the Espada mentioned on his fingers. "Apart from the Espada we fought…First Espada, Titiritero. Third Espada, Marron. Fourth Espada, Opaco. The sixth is here with us, and Hitsugaya-taichou killed the eighth Espada. So including a total Eight Espada..."

Tatsuki told him, "Grimmjow finished off Serpiente as well."

He amended, "Okay, seven Espada remain. Second Espada Caballero, this Tartarus, Clara," he nodded towards Renji, "and the shark man... It's good to have inside information on the Espada."

All the while, the memory played on.

_"They took me to see a girl. I think she was the one who injected you, Tatsuki."  
Tatsuki narrowed her eyes. "There was definitely something strange about her. Even without the injection thingy. She looked kind of dead inside, do you know what I mean?"_

At the mention of the black-haired maiden again, Toushirou listened carefully._ 'Shoulder length hair, framing her face? No… Momo wore her hair differently.'_ But a corner of his mind whispered treacherously to him, _'But people can change hairstyles.'_ His mind argued back,_ 'But like the arrancar said, even that Arisawa girl fits that description.'_

From there, Rukia fast-forwarded the memory until they reached the part where Neliel was sparring with Tatsuki. Rukia turned to Tatsuki for this part. "Did anything much happen here?"

Tatsuki shook her head. "That's just me being pummeled into walls." Renji had to hold back a snort of laughter at her matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Again, they fast-forwarded. Until they saw Karin again, lying on a sofa, bleeding from cuts all over her body.

Alarmed, Ichigo shouted, "What's wrong with her?" Rukia shushed him, but he ignored her. "Why is she injured?"

To the shinigamis' surprise, it was Isshin who said, "Calm down, Ichigo. She's in jinzen state. She must be fighting against her zanpakutou." He rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. "Which I find odd. Just because she was shot with that hollow virus, she shouldn't become a shinigami. She's still in her physical body."

As everyone pondered this quandary, the memory played on.

As a particularly big cut appeared on Karin's torso, Toushirou's face filled with worry. He wanted to place his face in his hands, but he was simultaneously afraid of missing some crucial detail concerning Karin. When Karin finally awoke, even if it was merely a memory, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After listening to Karin recount her story of her inner world, the shinigami became further puzzled.

"Even if she hasn't become a shinigami, this Koutetsu sounds like a zanpakutou…" Renji mused.

"What is a zanpakutou anyways?" Tatsuki asked. "And Ichigo, don't think about hiding anything from me anymore." She gave her childhood friend a sharp look. "I saw you enter go to Hueco Mundo four years ago, in shinigami form."

Torn between surprise and embarrassment, Ichigo scratched his neck. "D-did you…?"

Rukia turned towards him, brows raised. "It seems that your being a shinigami isn't as much of a secret as you thought it was."

Tatsuki repeated, "So what's a zanpakutou?"

"A shinigami's soul cutter." Shuuhei answered.

Tatsuki pondered this. "I mean, if you keep watching, you'll find out, but Karin could call out twin swords." The whole room listened, at attention; the memory was paused. Tatsuki gulped at the sudden focus on her, but plowed on, "Maybe it was because she didn't know, but she never specifically called them zanpakutou." After a moment of consideration, Tatsuki ventured, "My spirit might be the same."

"What physical form does your spirit take?" Renji asked.

Sheepishly, Tatsuki admitted, "I don't know. I haven't tried summoning her yet."

"What's her name?" Shuuhei asked curiously.

"Akarui."

"'Bright' eh?" Renji said, amused. "It somehow suits you."

"_She_." Corrected Tatsuki, irritated. "Why do men always think that everything has to be either male or 'it'?" She crossed her arms. "I mean, the iPod was assigned a female gender in French."

Raising both his hands, Renji defended, "Sorry. Momentary slip of the tongue." Giving her a shrewd look, Renji said, "You're a feisty one, aren't ya. Defender of woman's rights and all..."

Rolling up one sleeve threateningly, Tatsuki said, "Yes, I am. Got a problem with it?"

Ichigo called out, "Careful Renji, she was declared the strongest girl in Japan when she was a senior in highschool." At this piece of information, Renji hastily backed away from Tatsuki.

Returning to the memory, they saw what Tatsuki had meant by Karin's swords. They observed the crimson swords carefully, comparing them to zanpakutou.

"Hmm, they don't stay..."  
"But that's because she's still in her human shell."  
"If they come out 'released,' then are they still zanpakutou?"  
"Well, Ichigo's zanpakutou stays released as well..."

But they all agreed that Karin had improved vastly at fighting in general. The shinigami all watched as Tatsuki left to communicate with her spirit in Neliel's memory.

Then the part they had been waiting for came.

Toushirou and Ichigo both hissed as Caballero appeared in the memory.

_Caballero took off his hat and bowed. "What an unexpected surprise. Neliel-san."_

In contrast to the two, Shuuhei watched impassively as De-Pie entered Neliel's peripheral vision. They watched as Neliel faced off against Caballero; she didn't seem to know what his zanpakutou ability was, so she was at a severe disadvantage.

_"Give up. You have no chance, not unless you know Fata Morgana's power."_

That statement shifted gears in Toushirou's mind. "Fata Morgana*…" Toushirou whispered to himself. Then he realized that this was just the proof he needed to prove the theory he had been forming in his head. "It deals with illusions." He breathed. "That's how he was able to make Karin appear like she was there, when he had actually already taken her to Kyoto."

***Fata Morgana = Complex Mirage **[Not Spanish]

As the other shinigami digested this, Toushirou watched helplessly as Karin sacrificed herself to aid Neliel, Grimmjow and Tatsuki in their escape.

_Karin used her sword to struggle to her feet and shouted, "Get away! Take them both and get away! Neliel!"  
She communicated desperately with her eyes, over to where Tatsuki was still meditating. "Neliel, Take her and get away now! They won't harm me; I'm an experiment!"_

As the memory ended with Neliel grabbing Tatsuki from the ruins of the house, Toushirou closed his eyes in horror. Now that the memory was over, he finally succumbed and buried his head in his hands.

Karin had willingly let herself get captured.

…

An ebony-haired girl opened her eyes. Sitting up slowly, she looked around. She was in a small room, compared with…

She couldn't remember.

Come to think of it, she couldn't remember anything.

All she remembered was her name: Kurosaki Karin.

…

…

A/N: Yessss…


	24. New Memories

**Chapter 24: New Memories**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: This chapter was a troublesome one. It just did not want to be written. I can easily say that the other chapters practically wrote themselves, and I just tweaked the wording. But I truly, _honestly_ think this was by far the hardest chapter to write. =_= The battle scenes were a cinch compared to this.

…

**Chapter 24**

New Memories

…

"Oh, you're awake."

Karin turned around, to see a very beautiful person, tall frame clad in white. Stupidly, she asked, "Are you an angel?"

After staring at her for a moment, the person laughed. "No, but I'll take that as a compliment. Karin, right? My name is Kichida Hiroshi. You can just call me Hiroshi."

As she nodded, Karin belatedly realized from the name and the light tenor voice, _'He's a man.'_

He offered her a hand. "Can you stand?"

"Oh." She flushed. "Yes, I'm fine." Scrambling to her feet on her own to prove it, Karin dusted off the bottom of her shorts.

Withdrawing his proffered hand, he said, "Okay, then follow me. We'll have to clean you up, and find some clothes that fit you, while we're at it." He flashed her a smile so dazzling that Karin almost had to resist covering her eyes. She followed him out of the room, and down a hallway, leading to who knew where.

While they walked, Karin asked uncertainly, "Um. So. Where is this place? It looks..." She glanced around. "…very… white."

"We're in Las Noches, in Hueco Mundo."

"Las Noches… Hueco Mundo..." Karin said slowly, as if tasting the words on her tongue. For some reason, they left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at the showers.

Gesturing towards the showers, Hiroshi said, "Here you go. The showers. You want to get clean, don't you?"

Karin didn't need to look down at herself to know she needed to wash. She already _felt_ grimy. She nodded vigorously. As she took a shower, Hiroshi patiently waited outside for Karin.

After she had finished showering, next she was led to a room full of white clothes, ranging from rompers to hakamas. Making a face at the dresses – she decided she was a tomboy – Karin instead selected a loose shirt and shorts that fit her far better than the ones she had on now - the shorts were large even after they had been folded up several times. Hiroshi again, obligingly stepped out to let her dress.

As she put on the clothes, she spotted a mirror. Going over to it, she examined her face and figure, as if she were looking at it for the first time. Technically, she _was_ looking at it for the first time since she lost her memories. She saw a teenaged girl, with long black hair damp from the showers, with a decent face (not that she'd had much to compare it with, since she'd woken up to a beautiful man) and a muscled, but lean body, tall for a girl. She was a little lacking in the chest department, but she didn't mind that much. Straightening, she remembered that she had untied her hair and placed the rubber hair tie around her wrist to shower. Now she pulled her hair back and snapped it into a ponytail, without giving a hoot that her hair was still wet.

Stepping out from the room, Karin trotted after Hiroshi to their next destination. She asked him, "Where are we going now?"

He smiled mysteriously, (she was beginning to be able to discern the emotions behind each smile) and said, "You'll see."

She lapsed into silence again. As she stared at Hiroshi's back, Karin thoughts eventually turned to her lack of memories. She wasn't sure if she should say that she didn't remember anything besides her own name. Would Hiroshi think it was weird? While pondering and blindly walking, Karin didn't notice that Hiroshi had stopped, and nearly walked into his back. She peered around his shoulder, curious as to why he had paused. He suddenly turned around to face her and she jumped back, as if caught doing a misdeed.

"You don't remember anything, right?" He looked at her sympathetically.

In all fairness, she should have been relieved that he already knew of her condition. However, when Karin saw his face expression, she felt an unreasonable wave of anger wash over her. _'Don't look at me with those eyes full of pity - '_ She abruptly stopped that line of thought, frowning. It was uncharacteristic of her to get angry over sympathy. Right? Even though she thought that, Karin didn't really remember what was characteristic or uncharacteristic of her. Maybe she had been bad tempered before she'd lost her memory.

Emotions in turmoil and thoroughly confused, Karin settled for mutely nodding her head.

Giving her another bright smile, Hiroshi said, "Don't worry. Everybody here is like that. Your memory will come back bit by bit."

Though she wondered what Hiroshi meant by 'everybody,' Karin nodded again. He showed her into the room, this time inhabited by various people perched on elevated places or the floor; some were talking amongst themselves, and others were lazing about or sleeping. Karin saw that this was what Hiroshi meant by 'everybody.'

Hiroshi said, "Everyone, this is Karin!" It didn't occur to Karin that she'd never told him her name.

Immediately, the majority of the girls and boys swarmed around them, leaping from their various seating places to see Karin properly. Karin backed up hastily, feeling crowded.

"You're awfully pretty for a boy." Said a young boy with black hair, staring up at her with round eyes.

Annoyed, Karin replied, "That would be because I'm not a boy." _'That's what I get for tying my hair and wearing a loose shirt, I guess…'_

"Oh…"

"It's obvious she's a girl, Kaoru." Reprimanded a dark-skinned boy.

"Is she another victim?" A girl asked, peeking over the dark-skinned boy's shoulder.

Hiroshi nodded. Karin looked at him quizzically, wondering what the girl had meant by 'victim.'

Catching her look, Hiroshi explained, "Aizen-sama and his subordinates found you unconscious in the desert. He said that whoever tried to kill you failed, so he wiped your memories and threw you out in the desert instead."

Karin frowned at this. "Why would anybody try to kill me? Did I murder someone or something? And who is this Aizen?" Something niggled at the back of her mind at the name, like a loose tooth.

A hushed voice said, "Add the suffix _sama_! Aizen-_sama._"

Raking a hand through his floppy black hair, a boy shrugged. "We wouldn't know whether you killed anybody or not," he winked roguishly at her, "but the reason they tried to off you is probably because you have special powers."

This piqued Karin's interest. "Special powers?" she questioned.

Hiroshi gently pushed her further into the room. "Now now. She doesn't remember anything yet. Just let her adjust slowly. Why don't you start by backing up and letting her in?"

They obliged, and Karin was able to see them all properly. Hiroshi began to leave. "Where are you going, Hiroshi?"

"Stay and play with us!" begged the young boy who had thought that Karin was a boy.

Hiroshi replied apologetically, "Sorry Kaoru, but I have to report to Aizen-sama that Karin is up. Maybe next time." He waved at them and exited the room.

After he had gone, Karin leaned back on a pillar and asked them, "So are you going to tell me your names or what?"

Not minding her rough manners, the girls and boys – the females slightly outnumbered by the males – sat down and introduced themselves. Sitting down on a more elevated area, the boy who had winked at her raised a hand and volunteered, "Nishimura Akito here."

"Shimizu Kohaku at your service!" A cheerful boy with curly brown hair, only a little bit taller than her, saluted her cutely. "Just call me Kohaku!"

"I'm called Kari, short for Endo Hikari." It was the girl who had asked if she was 'another victim.'

A dark-skinned guy a little older than Karin raised his hand in greeting. "Yo. I'm Hashimoto Sho."

"Kunieda Ryou." said a lackadaisical older girl with a beauty dot under her left eye.

"Unagiya Kaoru. Sorry for thinking you were a boy earlier." said the boy younger than her. "You're still pretty, though."

Raising an eyebrow, Karin smiled. "Thanks, I guess?"

Last was a girl Karin hadn't noticed before, who timidly raised a hand and said, "Umm… My name is Takeuchi Megumi."

Hikari said, "We call ourselves Group E. Short for 'Group Exile.'"

Karin tried to fix the names to the faces, but found this a difficult task. Perhaps she had always been bad at remembering names; she would have to ask them again later.

"What's your surname, by the way? Hiroshi didn't say," asked Kaoru curiously.

Karin replied, "Kurosaki."

Silence met this proclamation. Then, all seven of them burst out into chatter at once.  
"Kurosaki, you said?" Hikari exclaimed.  
Kohaku turned to Sho and asked, "You think it's just coincidence?"  
"She _could_ be – " Sho scratched his chin, pondering.  
Scrutinizing Karin like a scientist would a new species, Kaoru observed, "Now that you mention it, she looks – "

Karin turned her head wildly in confusion, unable to discern what was being said around her.

"He moped about – "  
" – yeah, he never talked to us, except to ask about – "  
"He was always a loner – "

Soon, the only person Karin could hear properly was Megumi, who stood the closest to her. "How do you spell your surname?" asked Megumi, albeit somewhat nervously.  
"Do you remember _anything_ at all?" Akito pushed Megumi aside, who looked rather hurt. Karin felt indignant on her behalf and frowned at him.  
Also moving closer to Karin, Kohaku encouraged, "Just try!"

Alarmed at the storm of questions, Karin held up both her hands. "Whoa, whoa. Slow down. Why do you ask?" When they all glanced at each other, Karin immediately realized that there was something that she didn't know. Which wasn't surprising, if she thought about it. She was a newcomer, after all.

Speaking in a quieter voice, Hikari asked her, "You lost your memories, right?" As Karin nodded, she continued, "The rest of us were like that too, though we're slowly getting them back through rehab."

Akito told her, "But this one guy, he came before all of us, had all his memories from the start." He jerked his head over to the corner. "That lone wolf over there."

Still not understanding what that had to do with the fuss over her surname, Karin looked over curiously to the corner. Sure enough, there was still one boy who managed to stay asleep despite the ruckus. Crossing over to where he lay, Karin bent over him and studied him more closely. She noted that he had black hair that stuck out in all directions, much like hers had when she'd had it in a boy-cut. She stopped and thought to herself, _'When did I ever have a boy-cut?'_ As her mind went blank again, she sighed. _'Well, Hiroshi said my memories would return eventually…'_

She returned to examining the boy. His features looked vaguely familiar. Just when she had been wondering where she had seen them, his eyes flashed open. Not expecting this, she leapt back. He sat up quickly and stared at her, as she stared back. His eyes glittered like onyxes, again, just like hers, except his were wide with shock.

While Karin stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, the boy suddenly leapt up and took hold of her shoulders. He was slightly taller than her, as her jet black eyes had to look up at his.

Suddenly he hugged her, catching her off guard and nearly knocking her over. Balancing herself with difficulty, she managed a confused, "Huh?" She partially turned her head to look at the boy, only to be met with a facefull of spiky hair. Nudging him, she said, "Umm…? Sorry, but do I know you?"

He drew back, a hurt expression on his face. "You don't remember me?"

Shrugging his hands off of her shoulders, Karin crossed her arms and said, "Why else would I ask?"

Desperately, he exclaimed, "It's me! Kyo! Your brother! Kurosaki Kyo!"

This revelation left Karin speechless. Finally, she stammered, "I… have a brother?"

Strangely, the idea of having a brother didn't seem too new to her. And his surname was the same as hers.

The boy – who called himself Kyo – nodded furiously. He hugged Karin to him again. "You don't remember your own twin…" His voice cracked; he sounded truly heartbroken.

Moved, this time, hesitantly, Karin hugged him back.

"…Kurosaki Kyo…" She closed her eyes, realizing that his features had appeared familiar because they were similar to her own.

She had a brother. A twin.

…

After they had finished watching Neliel's memories, most of the shinigami were stunned into silence. Ichigo holed up in his room, Rukia with him. Renji was quietly explaining the situation between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society to Tatsuki, who was full of questions.

Izuru continued to watch over the two arrancar with his sharp eyes. Isshin had disappeared into his bedroom. Toushirou too, had disappeared; no one knew where.

All the while, Rangiku was huddled in the corner.

Shuuhei had noticed that she had stayed uncharacteristically quiet all through the memory and even afterwards. He sauntered over to her. "Rangiku-san?" She didn't seem to hear. _'This is strange.' _Shuuhei thought. Sure, she zoned out once in a while, but she responded once someone called her name. He cleared his throat and said more loudly, "Rangiku-san?"

This seemed to wake her from her reverie, and she jerked her head towards Shuuhei. "Huh?" She blinked at him. "Did you say something?"

Sitting down beside her, Shuuhei asked, "Is something wrong?"

Tucking a lock of hair behind an ear nervously, Rangiku said, "Why would you think that, Hisagi-Taichou?"

Perching his elbows on his knees, Shuuhei replied, "Because you've been acting strange. And I've told you, drop the formalities and call me Shuuhei."

Looking away from him, Rangiku bit her lip. _'Would it be okay to tell him?' _It was so hard, keeping this secret to herself. She was even sure if she was doing the right thing. _'Taichou…'_

Clasping her hands, Rangiku said softly, "Shuuhei... Can we go somewhere a little more private?"

Though this was like a dream come true, Shuuhei somehow didn't think it had to do with her confessing her undying secret love for him. But he obliged her nonetheless.

Once they were on the roof, Rangiku hunched up, as if she were cold. Worried, Shuuhei reached out to her. But before his hand could touch her shoulder, she whispered, "…still alive."

Puzzled, he drew his hand back. "What…?"

Rangiku repeated, "She's still alive."

"Who's still alive?"

"…mori…"

He either had hearing problems, or Rangiku was speaking too softly for him to hear. Frowning, Shuuhei craned his neck closer, so he could hear her better. "…Hinamori…" Rangiku whispered once again. His eyes widened.

Shuuhei said slowly, "Hinamori… as in the former Fifth Division Lieutenant?"

Mutely, Rangiku nodded. Suddenly, Shuuhei moved closer to Rangiku, grabbing her shoulders.

"Is Tousen-Taichou alive as well, then?" There was a quaver in his voice.

Rangiku shook her head and replied, "I don't know."

Dreading the possible answer to the question he was about to ask, Shuuhei hesitated and finally said quietly, "Is…"

Again, Rangiku shook her head, knowing what he had been about to say. "I don't know." She wiped her eyes with her wrists. "I don't want Gin to be alive. Not like that."

Shuuhei didn't know whether it was a good thing or not that he felt relieved at this.

…

A silver-haired boy sat under a tree, practically swimming in angst. Toushirou chuckled humorlessly to himself at the thought. _'At least I'm not drowning in it.'_

He'd had plenty of experience with that. Back when Momo had been speared by Aizen right after his betrayal… Back when he _himself_ had speared Momo, unaware that Aizen had activated Kyouka Suigetsu… And finally, when Momo had slit her own throat and thrown herself off of Soukyouku Hill. By the time they had found her in the forest, it had already been too late.

"I seem to have bad luck with women." He said out loud.

A crow cawed, as if agreeing. As Toushirou glared up at it, it flew out of the tree.

He was half-tempted to chase after it, to relieve his feelings by scaring it out of its wits, but he was in his gigai, so shunpo would be impossible. He briefly wondered how a certain girl was able to attain that superhuman speed in her physical body.

Staring forward blankly, it occurred to him that the first time he'd been here, it had been raining. He'd returned countless times afterward, and had become accustomed to ferrying food, meditating, tossing sarcastic phrases back and forth, the works… And before he'd known it, he'd somehow fallen for the girl he'd initially regarded as a possible threat.

Karin's face, at times laughing with joy and other times frowning with concentration – especially when she played soccer – came to mind.

He slapped his forehead, exasperated with himself.

"I resolved never to open my heart again…" he mused out loud. "but here I am."

He remembered what Karin had first said when he'd snuck up on her, beneath this very tree.

**Flashback**

"_Oh, how we all fall."_

**Flashback End**

He'd agreed, saying, '_indeed'_ back then.

"'Indeed' indeed." He sighed, and ruffled his hair.

Suddenly, he inhaled and stood.

Okay. Now that he'd gotten _that_ out of his system, he could focus on getting Karin out of Las Noches. The arrancar were bound to know their way around, since they had been Espada at one point or another.

He hadn't been able to save Momo, but this time was different. He still had a chance. After all, Karin hadn't fallen for some traitor and lost all hope to the point of becoming suicidal. Even if she _had_ fallen for a traitor, she wouldn't just take her life. Just because the traitor hadn't taken her with him.

She was stronger than that.

…

Karin looked apprehensively at the machine before her. It looked like one of those perm-waving heater machines often seen at hair salons, but scarier. She continued to stare at it with clear doubt on her face, before Hiroshi gave her a small push saying, "Go on, it won't eat you."

She dug her feet into the ground however, resisting the outer force edging her closer to the machine. "But the question is, will it fry my brain?"

Hiroshi laughed and said, "All the kids do this. It's to help them regain their memories."

"Yeah, it helped me a lot!" quipped Kohaku.

Hiroshi shooed him off, to the 'training room.' "Off you run, Kohaku. Nothing you haven't seen before."

"But I wanted to see Karin regain her memories…" At a stern look from Hiroshi, Kohaku ran off, pouting.

Even after Kohaku's obvious vote of confidence for the machine, Kyo still didn't look so sure. "Er. Does she _have_ to go through this?" Hiroshi raised his brows at him. "I mean, I want her to get her memory back too, but frankly, that machine looks… dangerous. It'll be better for me to talk her through - "

Karin interrupted, "No. I'll do it." She flashed Kyo a grin. "I want to get my memories back asap. I want to remember you."

Kyo's eyes sparked with something akin to pride, and he gave her a little nod. "If you put it that way…" He shrugged. "But if anything happens to my sister while she's in that brain machine…" He made a threatening move to Hiroshi, who simply smiled it off, per usual.

Stalking towards the machine, Karin took a deep breath, and sat in the chair, pulling the metal helmet over her head. It was uncomfortable, but bearable.

"I'm ready." She called out.

Hiroshi said in a singsong voice, "Okay, here we go!" He pulled down a lever attached to the machine.

Karin swallowed nervously. Almost immediately, images began to flash through her mind. Images of a younger Kyo… a village ostracizing them when they were older… Kyo being driven away… her fighting the villagers off with bloodied - no, they were made of crimson metal - swords… a man wearing an ugly white and green hat who had overpowered her and driven her away as well… a desert before her…

Kyo held his breath as Karin went under the machine, worried despite what he'd said earlier.

After what seemed like an eternity, the helmet was taken off, and Karin exhaled deeply. She felt a dull drumming in her skull. Wincing, she put a hand to her head, alarming Kyo. He put a hand on her back. "What's wrong? Is it because of that machine?"

Karin waved him off, saying, "I'm ok." Seeing Kyo give her a doubtful look, she assured him, "I think it's supposed to be like this. I'm just crammed full with memories right now." She didn't mention how alien the memories felt to her. As if they had never belonged to her in the first place.

Hiroshi stepped forward and led them out of what he had called the 'recovery room.' "Your memories haven't returned in full quite yet, Karin, so I want you back tomorrow as well."

As they walked out of the room, Kyo asked Karin, "What memories did you see? Did you see the one where we played tricks on – " He saw her face expression, his excitement ebbed away. "Oh. You didn't see very good memories."

Karin said in what she obviously thought was an reassuring voice, "It must bring back the traumatic memories first." A shadow cast over her face at the memories she had seen. She then brightened and slapped Kyo's back. "Don't worry! My memories'll be back in no time!"

They headed towards the 'training room.' Kyo had to lead Karin around, because she didn't know the way around yet; she wasn't sure if she _would_ ever learn her way around. She seemed to think more visually, in terms of landmarks. But here, all the halls looked the same: white and long.

When they finally arrived, the other seven were already there, each with a different weapon, many of them sparring against each other. Sho had a huge sword, while Kohaku held small daggers, almost as small as darts. Megumi wielded a fan, which looked quite harmless until you noticed the sharp spikes. Karin stared. "What's with the weapons?"

Kyo explained, "It's part of our souls. Mine…" suddenly he held two black swords in his hands, "are these two swords. Mine're called Kyuu*."

She remembered seeing these swords before, in her memory, except they had been crimson. "Koutetsu…" she said dazedly. "The name of mine is Koutetsu."

***Kyuu = black stone**

…

Two whole days passed before Grimmjow woke. And when he did wake, he groaned, sat up and looked around. He was in an unfamiliar place, with lower ceilings than he was used to. He spotted a familiar orange head.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo turned around. "Grimmjow, you're awake." His face was somber, and his voice was rather dull.

Grimmjow scowled at Ichigo. "Why the depressed look? I should be the one making that face. If Neliel hadn't knock – " He stopped, remembering Neliel. "Neliel! Where is she?" He grabbed Ichigo's collar, shaking him and practically hollering in his ear. "Where's Neliel?"

Grimacing at the loud volume, Ichigo pointed over to the neighboring curtain. "Nel's over there. Jeez. My eardrums are gonna burst if you keep that up."

Ignoring his stiff muscles and rolling off the bed, Grimmjow swished the curtains aside. Neliel was lying there, peacefully asleep. He slumped in relief. Ignoring Ichigo's questioning look, he asked next, "What happened to the two girls?"

"One helped carry you here, and the other is still in Hueco Mundo."

Grimmjow turned and narrowed his eyes at the silver-haired boy who had spoken. "Which is which?"

Fixing Grimmjow with a cold stare, Toushirou answered, "Arisawa is here in the human world. Karin is the one who stayed behind."

Angrily, Grimmjow looked away. "Che, always butting into my fights like that. Stupid bitch."

In a flash, Toushirou was standing in front of Grimmjow, and this time, it was the blue-haired arrancar who found himself held by the collar. "What did you call her?" Toushirou whispered dangerously. "Are you conveniently forgetting the reason she stayed behind?"

Grimmjow looked back at him and said in a deceptively bored tone, "I'm warning you _once_, _brat_, which is already one time too many." His eyes narrowed to slits and his gaze transformed into a menacing glare. "Let. Go." His voice bordered on malice.

Toushirou hissed out a breath through his teeth, and shoved Grimmjow back.

Ichigo too, hadn't been very happy with the term used to describe his sister, but he knew Grimmjow had only expressed worry in his own way. "Cool down, Toushirou." he mediated.

As if acquiescing to Ichigo, Toushirou turned his gaze upon the green-haired arrancar. Grimmjow too, looked towards Neliel, and asked, "Why's she still asleep?"

Eyes popping open, Neliel answered, "Whoever said I was asleep?" She smiled and sat up, scooting back and leaning against the headboard.

"Neliel!" Grimmjow exclaimed. "How long were you – "

Putting her hands behind her head, Neliel said smugly, "I just wanted to see how you reacted, is all." She mimicked, "'Neliel! Where is she? Where's Neliel?'" Grinning at him like a satisfied cat who had just swallowed a fish whole, she said, "Your reaction was more touching than I expected."

Grimmjow covered his embarrassment by angrily stomping out of the hospital ward. Squinting at the sunlight that hit his eyes, he asked Ichigo, "Where am I anyways?"

Ichigo looked at him with a deadpan face. "You don't recognize the town you invaded with a bunch of arrancar just to get rid of everyone with even a speck of spiritual energy?"

Grimmjow looked around. "Did I really do that? I must have selective memory."

Irritated at Grimmjow's 'selective memory,' Ichigo growled, "Yes, you did!"

Scratching his head, Grimmjow shrugged nonchalantly, "This town must look different in the daylight."

Ichigo sighed noisily. He shouted, "Oi, Nel! Now that Grimmjow's awake, we're going to Urahara-san's!"

As Neliel pushed the door open, Grimmjow stared at her. "Wha…?" Her skull mask and face marking was gone, and she was wearing a shirt and tastefully torn jeans. In short, she looked entirely human. "How…?" Grimmjow stuttered, at a loss for words.

Tossing her sea-green hair, Neliel replied, "I wasn't just lolling around and moping, waiting for you to wake up. Sorry." She shrugged, not sounding sorry at all.

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her vague explanation and said more explicitly, "Urahara-san created a new type of gigai for arrancar. Obviously, you guys'll just look like normal humans while you wear them. He'll have made one for you too."

Though not entirely convinced, Grimmjow followed them.

…

The past two days had been days of grueling training and memory regaining sessions for Karin. After the initial traumatic memories, Karin began to experience more pleasant ones, where she had played with Kyo. There was even one where they had playfully been sparring with their swords, but that pleasant memory quickly turned nasty, as that was when the villagers discovered their powers, and afterwards eventually chased them from the human world into Hueco Mundo.

It turned out that all nine of Group Exile had been chased from the human world because of their strange powers. That was what Hikari had meant by 'victim,' and their name, 'Group Exile.' They had been as good as exiled from the human world.

The other kids and young adults had informed her that her presence had brought around a dramatic change in Kyo.

"He always kept to himself." Hikari said earnestly.

Kohaku added, "Yeah, and when he did talk, it was all about you, his twin."

Megumi clasped Karin's hands and said quietly, "He's so much brighter now."

Later, Karin sat deep in thought, with her arms crossed and her legs in lotus position. "So Kyo and I lost our parents young… grew up together in a village kind enough to take us in… but not kind enough to let us stay once we began to exhibit unnatural powers…" She frowned, tapping her chin. Somehow the memories didn't click, and grated against her brain instead. "Must be because I haven't regained enough of my memories yet…" she mused out loud.

She heard laughing. It was Akito, whom she was beginning to dislike more and more. Megumi obviously liked him; he either remained oblivious to this, or didn't want to acknowledge her feelings. He instead pestered Karin insistently. Both points irritated her.

He plopped down beside her. "Didn't anybody tell you that talking to yourself makes you look crazy?"

"You really have your way with words, don't you." Karin said, eying him with distaste.

Akito missed her sarcasm completely. "Haha, you're the first to say that."

Rolling her eyes, Karin opened her mouth to say something else less subtle along the lines of 'go away, you're not wanted here' but another voice said it before she did.

"Go away. Can't you tell when you're not wanted?" It was Kyo. Karin grinned up at him.

Akito got up and slunk sulkily away as Kyo sat beside her. High-fiving him, Karin said, "Took the words right out of my mouth. As expected of my twin."

Putting an arm around her shoulder, Kyo said, "The past few days have been rough for you, right?"

Nudging him in the ribs, Karin replied, "What, you think I'm so weak as to crumple from this much, bro?"

Grinning back at her, Kyo ruffled her hair. "Of course not!" Standing up, he asked, "Up for a round of sparring?"

Karin shook her head. "Sorry. I need some time to think."

Kyo nodded, an understanding look on his face. "Alright then." As he walked away to find a sparring partner, Karin closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she immersed herself into a meditative state, which felt familiar to her, as if she'd done it many times before she'd lost her memory.

It was strangely comforting, to sink into the darkness…

…

…

A/N: Le sigh… and the second half of the story begins at last… Can you tell which two canon characters I used? :3  
Note: **Kyo means 'apricot.' Karin means 'quince'** so I thought apricot would fit quite well, as it starts with a 'K' too.


	25. The Dreams

**Chapter 25: The Dreams**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: I notice that my chapters seem to be getting longer... bit by bit...

…

**Chapter 25**

The Dreams

…

The whole soccer team had given up hope on Karin's return. Everyday, the members stopped Yuzu in the halls to ask for news of Karin, but even Yuzu lost her temper on the sixth day and the seventy-fifth time she had been questioned on news of Karin.

Tears pooling in her eyes, Yuzu exclaimed, "I don't know! I don't know where she is, and I have no idea when she'll be back!"

Somebody muttered, "_If_ she'll be back, you mean."

Immediately, Yuzu wheeled on that person, and the tears finally spilled. "Stop it!" she yelled. "Stop talking as if Karin-chan won't ever come back!" She ran down the hallway to the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

She emerged from the bathroom a good ten minutes after class had started, her eyes puffy and red. The teacher, who knew what she was going through, wordlessly gave her the handout for the class that day and let her go to her seat. Looking at the two empty seats to her left where Karin and Toushirou had sat, Yuzu gave an almost inaudible sniff.

After Karin had gone missing, Toushirou had stopped coming to school entirely, choosing instead to disappear into somewhere in the direction of the forest for the whole day. For the last three days, he had come back only for dinner, eating a distressing amount of food. Yuzu sometimes wondered if he was eating Karin's share for her as well. But he had always eaten a large portion of food, so she wasn't positive.

She bowed her head over the calculus handout that the teacher had given her, looking but not seeing.

After the bathroom incident, nobody dared ask Yuzu about news for Karin.

Later at practice, the soccer team had been sitting for a long time in solemn silence. Hiko sat with his head down, his hands in his black hair. Sato, the goalie, broke the silence by gloomily saying, "Kuro-chan's dead, isn't she?"

A teammate smacked him over the head for his insensitive comment. Hiko shot Sato a smoldering glare. "She's _missing._"

One of the defenders muttered, "Same difference. Her body just hasn't turned up – " he was cut off by an elbow to his ribs by another teammate.

Without conviction, the center defender said, "There's no proof that she was taken by the serial killer..." They lapsed into silence again.

The coach of the soccer team clapped his hands and said in a forcedly energetic voice, "Well, we may be down one player, but life goes on. Tomorrow's the first district tournament, so – "

At this, Hiko lost it and leapt up, fire in his eyes. "She might be dead, and all you can say is, 'well, we're down one player' and life goes on?" he said incredulously. "Are you fucking with us? Is soccer more important than someone's life?" He clenched his fists.

Snapping as well, coach Sasaki roared back, "How dare you suggest I'm not mourning the loss of Kurosaki! I'm saying we should do the best we can for _her_ sake! She wouldn't want us to give up because she's not here, would she?" He glared around in the dead silence.

Dusting off his uniform, Seta stood up, breaking the silence. "I agree with the coach. We need to win tomorrow. For Kurosaki."

There were murmurs of assent, and the coach bellowed, "That's the spirit! Let's win, for Kurosaki!"

…

After sinking into her meditation state, Karin expected to see only the blackness of her eyelids. But she stood in what vaguely resembled a village, but looked much larger and had a lot more stones and metal. Taller too, Karin thought as her eyes traveled up what looked like a tall column of glass divided by metal beams. She was impressed by the very idea to use metal for structures. '_If only the villagers saw this...'_ The houses all looked firmer than the rickety wooden huts. In fact, there were no huts in sight, no grass, nor any little carts of knickknacks that had existed in the village of her memories.

It all looked so bizarre, yet still didn't feel new to her. She instinctively knew that this was her spirit world.

Karin squared her shoulders and called out to the part of her spirit that enabled her to call forth the crimson swords. '_Koutetsu?'_

But he was nowhere to be seen. Karin walked through her spirit world, calling out Koutetsu's name once in a while. But all that Karin could see was the empty… she didn't know what to call the strange not-village.

'_**So you lost your memories.'**_

Karin turned around sharply. She saw an inverted version of herself sitting on a fence with her legs crossed and her chin propped up on a hand. She looked bored out of her skull.

Karin narrowed her eyes. She had no memories of this inverted image of herself, but somehow knew that this was another darker part of her soul. She asked, _'What happened to Koutetsu?'_

Her other self raised an eyebrow and leaned further forward on the fence, position looking rather precarious. **'Oh? You remember him?'**

Offended, Karin cried out, _'Of course I remember Koutetsu! He – "_

Abruptly, she stopped, her intended words cut off by the realization that she didn't know _how_ she remembered him. How _did_ she remember him? She had no memories, no recollection of seeing Koutetsu's spirit whatsoever.

But she _knew_ him; that he existed within her.

The other Karin's mouth twisted into a sinister smile. _**'Ah, but you don't know **_**how **_**you know, right?'**_ Looking more put out and significantly less evil, she continued sourly, _**'And you don't remember me, not to mention this place.' **_She gestured to their surroundings.

Karin ignored her rather offended darker self. _'Where's Koutetsu?' _she repeated.

Her inverted self shrugged. _**'Maybe he'll come back when your memories do.' **_Slyly, she added, _**'How about letting me take over? I can get your memories back.'**_

For a moment, Karin was tempted by the lure of regaining her memories without further use of the unpleasant machine. But she had the feeling that the moment she relinquished her body, her darker self would wreak absolute havoc. Karin smiled wryly. _'Nice try. Better luck next time.'_

She waved to her darker spirit, who stared impassively back.

'_**You shouldn't trust those people, you know.'**_

But Karin had already left the spirit world.

Karin opened her eyes and after a moment, she stood and summoned Koutetsu's swords. "Kyo! I'll spar with you now!"

…

Grimmjow stared at the small shop before him.

"_This_ is where you got that faux body? _This_ dinky place?"

"You wouldn't say that if you took a look at the basement." Ichigo replied, giving a push in the direction of the shop to the still-reluctant Grimmjow, who stood his ground like a stubborn ox.

Neliel finally gave him a kick in the behind. "Stop whining and get in. You're just used to the high ceilings of Las Noches. You called the Cubo a sad, puny excuse of a house at first too, remember."

Grimmjow retorted, "Well, at least it was bigger than _this_!" But he still walked in.

As they crossed into the threshold, Urahara greeted them. "Ichigo-san, Neliel-san. And you must be Grimmjow-san."

Putting his hands in his pockets, Grimmow gave the dark interior of the shop a disdainful look. Neliel elbowed him in the side. "Go on. Go in." Reluctantly, Grimmjow followed Urahara.

The shopkeeper suddenly produced a Grimmjow look-alike, though like Neliel's, the gigai had no mask remains and no eye markings, and wore a black shirt and jeans. Hesitantly, Grimmjow reached out to touch it, and his spiritual mass was immediately sucked in.

He blinked.

Grimmjow was in the gigai. He looked down at his hands, and flexed them experimentally. Next he touched his jaw, and felt no mask remains, no nothing. Unexpectedly, his face broke out into a grin. Going over to Neliel, he kissed her.

Ichigo gaped; he hadn't known of Neliel and Grimmjow's relationship. Even if he did, as a Japanese, he would have been shocked at this unwarranted display of affection in the presence of others.

"Now I can do this," he kissed her again, this time more deeply and after he pulled back continued, "without that damned mask getting in the way." Grimmjow held up and spun a rather pink-faced Neliel around. "Remember I always had to use my resurrecion for the forep – "

Just what he had to use resurrecion for, Ichigo never found out, as Neliel shoved her palm into Grimmjow's face, her face tomato red.

Down in the basement, meanwhile, Tatsuki was training with Renji, who was encouraging her to bring out Akarui.

"C'mon, bring her out!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know how!" Tatsuki growled, blocking an unreleased Zabimaru with a spiritual particle enforced hand.

Ranji paused in their sparring, and thought for a moment. Then, he shrugged and said, "Well, I suppose there's no other way."

Tatsuki became suspicious at this. "What are you going to do?" she asked warily.

"Oh, not much." Renji said carelessly. "Just this." He released Zabimaru with its shikai command. "Howl, Zabimaru!" The katana immediately transformed, and Tatsuki leapt hastily back.

"What's that? What happened to your sword?" She exclaimed.

Renji's eyes glinted, as he pursued Tatsuki with a new vigor. "I released it, that's what." At her incredulous face expression, he asked, "What, did I forget to tell you? There're two release states to a zanpakutou. A shikai, and a bankai. This is just my shikai." With a fierce grin, he performed Zabimaru's special ability to extend. While he maneuvered his newly flexible sword, he said, "Sorry, but I don't go easy on girls. That's against my policy."

"That's – " Tatsuki jumped to avoid a blast that left a crater on the ground, "exactly – " she back flipped from another attack, "how I like it!"

As Zabimaru headed straight towards her head and with no time to leap or dodge, she defended with both her arms in front of her face, filling them with spiritual energy. Though they felt bruised, she managed to catch hold of Zabimaru's edge segment and pulled back her arm, attempting to throw the sword into a boulder, and Renji along with it. Unfortunately, Zabimaru's ability to stretch made this useless (as well as Renji's muscle mass), and unless she counted the segment farthest from the hilt being stuck in the boulder a victory, her efforts were in vain.

As it was, Tatsuki took advantage of this small victory, leaping onto Zabimaru's extended form and running towards Renji like an acrobat. She felt a heat rush into her right hand, and instinctively swung it down, as if she were going to karate chop Renji. But her hand suddenly enclosed on something, and she gripped it. A bright metal polearm suddenly appeared in her right hand, and she froze, blinking at it.

Slowly, Renji lowered his left arm, which he had initially raised with the intention to guard his head from being smashed in.

Leaping off Zabimaru, Tatsuki took in the appearance of her weapon. It was a naginata (Japanese equivalent of a glaive), taller than her. While she gaped at it, Renji dislodged his blade by resealing his sword.

Taking a proper look at her weapon, Renji whistled; the glaive was even longer than he was tall. "Wow. Akarui takes on a pretty imposing shape." He gave a sideways glance towards Tatsuki. "Kinda like you."

Tatsuki gave him a playful glare and a nudge. "What was that?"

"I meant that in a good way!" Renji protested. His gaze was drawn back to the polearm. "But I didn't think that releasing Zabimaru would actually work. It was just a spur of the moment thing. And I didn't mean the part about not going easy on girls, just so you know." Putting Zabimaru over his shoulder, he announced proudly, "I'll have you know that I'm a perfect gentleman!"

Tatsuki snorted. Then she said, "…Hey, wait! Does that mean you were going easy on me?"

…

Karin collapsed onto the bed. They each had their separate rooms in Las Noches, white like everything else. _'What isn't white in this world? The sky? Even the sand is white.'_

She would have been out like a light without even taking off her sandals, if not her wariness of the dreams she had dreamt the last two nights. The odd thing about these dreams was that unlike normal dreams, she remembered every last detail, and the fact that they came in the form of broken scenes.

The first night, she had dreamt of a sweet young girl running and calling her 'Karin-chan,' a scene that had switched abruptly to a world that resembled her spirit world, full of glass, stone and metal. Then of a room that was filled with rows of people dressed in gray.

The second night, she had a fitful dream of great masked things that vaguely resembled arrancar; at least in their masks and holes through the chest. But unlike the arrancar, these seemed to have no self-control and looked and acted in a more bestial manner. There was a glimpse of a wide back clothed in red and gray and a head of black hair, and a warm fluttering feeling. Just when the warm feeling turned into panic, Karin woke up. The next day, she found out that these great masked creatures were called hollows, the form that arrancar took before taking off their masks and gaining some humanity.

Because of these dreams, instead of waking up refreshed like she should have after a good long sleep, she woke up even more tired, like she had run a marathon through a different world.

Karin didn't know whether it would be better to just sleep despite the dreams, or not sleep at all. If she would be tired either way, she preferred the latter. But sleep seemed to beckon, and she would have fallen into it if not for a knock at her door.

Thinking it was Kyo, Karin groaned, "Come in… the door's open…"

But it wasn't Kyo. As she saw a shadow looming over her, she rubbed her eyes and sat up. Biting back a yawn, when Karin saw the identity of her visitor, all the sleep flew away like a bat out of hell.

Over the last two days, she had met a few arrancar, and had learnt that most of them respected the members Group Exile, as they were supposedly more powerful than the average arrancar. The only people that had higher ranks than the members of Group Exile were the Espada.

The man currently standing before her wore a white suit, and she recognized him as the Espada rumored to serve Aizen with the most faithfulness. Getting to her feet, Karin bowed to the Segundo Espada. Then she straightened, eyeing Caballero with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

"To what do I owe the honor…?" Though her speech was polite, she had a strange feeling about this arrancar. What was this feeling? Suspicion?

"Oh, I just wanted to check up on you. I was one of the people who brought you here, did you know?"

This did nothing to help Karin relax. On the contrary, it put her further on edge. The man had been there when she had been found. It was likely he knew the cause for her lack of memories. After her recourse with her darker self, she was starting to doubt Hiroshi; he and his smiling face coupled with his vague answers inspired no vote of confidence in her. However, she bowed once again, saying, "Then I must thank you, as you are one of my saviors." Straightening from her bow once again, she looked up at him, with a glint of her feelings showing through her eyes.

His lips curved up into a smile.

Then, he turned to leave. "Well, now that I've seen for myself how you're doing, I'll let you rest, as I've obviously kept you from your sleep." He gave Karin one last sly glance from the doorway and said, "I wish you pleasant dreams tonight."

When the door snapped shut behind him, Karin sank back down on the bed, staring at the place the Espada had stood mere moments before. The way he said the last sentence… did he know about the dreams? If so, how?

What did it matter? Too tired to think on it any longer, Karin shed her sandals and flopped back onto the bed with a muffled flump. She swung her legs up onto the bed and rolled away from the door to look at the perpetual night out the open window.

There was another knock at her door. Karin closed her eyes tightly. If she didn't answer, maybe whoever it was would go away, thinking she was asleep. But when she didn't answer, the door creaked open. Gritting her teeth, Karin was glad her back was to the door, and hoped the person would leave upon seeing her asleep. But the footsteps padded into her room. She stiffened when she felt whomever it was slip into the bed and surreptitiously wrap an arm around her waist. But she realized whom the spiritual energy belonged to and relaxed.

"Kyo?"

"Oh, did I wake you?" Kyo sounded abashed.

Karin shook her head. "You couldn't sleep?"

She felt Kyo nod his head on the pillow from behind her. He said quietly, "I couldn't sleep ever since we got separated. But now that we're back together, I'm okay."

Karin asked, "How were you found anyways? I remember you getting exiled from the village… but I never heard how you were found."

For a long while, Kyo didn't speak. Finally, he said, "That's the thing… I don't remember that part at all. When I woke up, I was just in a white room. How they found me is the only thing I have no recollection of. I must have lost consciousness."

Karin found this odd, and she said so. "Why didn't you ask?"

She felt him shrug. "I don't know. I never thought to, I guess."

Quelling the rising suspicion in her, Karin thought, _'Kyo's my twin. He would never lie to me.'_ Trying to take her mind off the subject, Karin confessed, "I'm afraid to sleep."

"The dreams?" Kyo asked.

Karin nodded.

"They might be your memories, you know." Kyo pointed out.

Karin thought about this. "I don't know…" she said slowly. "I would think so too, if it matched up at all with what the machine shows me, and with what you say."

As if he wanted to check if his own memories matched with her dreams, Kyo asked, "What do you see in your dreams?"

Even though she knew Kyo was her twin, Karin didn't feel like she could share her dreams with him. They were too wild, too broken. "I don't remember." she lied.

Seeing through the lie, Kyo sighed. _'I guess she doesn't remember enough to trust me yet.'_ he thought. Squeezing her lightly, he closed his eyes and murmured into her hair, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Karin placed a hand on his arm, grateful. Eventually, in Kyo's warm embrace, her eyes fluttered shut.

Like the last two nights, her dreams that night were confusing and broken.

_She saw the very man who had attacked her and Kyo, smiling under his green and white hat, twirling his cane at her, and a grateful feeling.  
A swish of purple hair and dark skin, and adrenalin pumping through her blood.  
A forest, and a wet curtain of despair falling around her.  
A strange black and white ball speeding around her feet, and a thrill of excitement.  
A white mask, and fighting horror and a terrible fear.  
A flash of orange, and flooding relief.  
A shaded figure clad in a black hakama with a white cloak… and a terrible ache of longing._

She awoke to a violent shaking.

"Karin! What's wrong!" The panicked voice belonged to Kyo, Karin realized sluggishly.

"Kyo?" Her voice was slurred.

Kyo's worried face entered her line of vision. "You were moaning in your sleep. Did you have the dreams again?"

Karin sighed and sat up with a rustle. Placing her forehead in a hand, she mumbled. "Yeah."

Peering at her with eyes filled with concern, he asked, "Who's Toushirou?"

Raising her head, she asked blearily, "Huh? Toushirou? Who's that?" She frowned, feeling more awake now. "That's a weird name."

Looking out at the moon always hanging in the night sky of Hueco Mundo, Karin suppressed another sigh, and turned to Kyo, putting on a cheerful face. "Since I'm awake anyways, you up for some more training? You promised to teach me how to fire a Cero today, remember?"

She followed Kyo to the training room and discovered that Hiroshi was already there, kneeling in front of a brown haired man possessing immense spiritual pressure.

Kyo too, went down on one knee. "Aizen-sama."

Too busy staring at the man, it didn't occur to Karin that she also needed to kneel until Kyo gently tugged her down.

Reluctantly, she put her arm in front of her chest in a servile position. "Aizen…sama." Kyo shot Karin a warning look. She had been a beat late in adding the honorific, but it seemed as if Kyo had been the only one to notice.

"You may rise." Said a voice.

Immediately Karin knew she had heard this voice before. Slowly, she stood up, trying to figure out from whence. Her mind drew a blank again, and she inwardly cursed.

Aizen walked up to her. "So you have awoken."

Karin bowed, replying, "I am grateful that you have rescued me."

Smiling, Aizen nodded. "You are welcome." Tilting his head, he asked her, "Do you know for what reason you are being trained?"

With a jolt, Karin realized that she didn't. She had just assumed that training was necessary. She replied, "No, I don't." At another nudge from Kyo, she belatedly added, "Sir."

"There is a town…" Seeing Karin's incomprehension of the term 'town,' Aizen rephrased, "A large village, called Karakura."

Still, Karin was confused. What did this Karakura town have to do with her?

"They are intent on annihilating the arrancar. Us. Spirits with any power at all. So we will defend ourselves." He turned around, putting his hands behind his back. "Strike them, before they strike us."

This made sense to Karin – from her memories, she had realized that she had been rather combative as a child.

With these words, he left them.

Karin looked at Kyo. From the look on his face, he had already known about this. Wryly, she asked, "Is there anything else I'm not aware of?"

Shaking his head, Kyo confessed, "Not that I know of."

Hiroshi, however, said, "Yes, there is." They whirled their heads towards him. "You remember the man who attacked you? Chased you from your village?"

Karin and Kyo nodded in tandem. "He wore a white and green hat…" Karin said.

"Yes." Hiroshi confirmed.

Karin felt a sudden fury boil in her chest, as if a fire had been lit there. She didn't like – no, she absolutely despised – that man, who had first attacked Kyo, then herself. Scowling, she asked, "What does he have to do with this?"

"'His' name is Urahara Kisuke." Hiroshi said. "And he is the leader of Karakura."

Both Karin and Kyo narrowed their eyes at this new piece of information. They glanced at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking.

_Revenge._

…

The shinigami and two arrancar, as well as one human, all sat in the basement of the Urahara shop, discoursing about how best to go about the rescue-slash-invasion. Well, the 'discourse' had long since turned into a shouting match.

"Our goal is to rescue Karin!" Ichigo yelled.

Ikkaku shouted back, "Why should we stop at a rescue? We should just invade the place and be done with it!"

"Why can't we just sneak in and whisk her away?" Rukia asked.

Yumichika said, "Slithering in like a snake is a coward's way in. But it isn't elegant just to charge in like barbarians either."

Neliel slapped the ground impatiently, causing a cloud of dust to rise up. "Then why did you recruit two arrancar if not to sneak in? There's no point in our knowledge if you just want to charge in straight on."

Grimmjow snarled, "I'm all for it if you all want to strike head on, but leave Neliel out of it if you do."

Neliel turned on Grimmjow at this. "Forget about leaving me out of this! If anything, _you_ should be the one to stay out! You're weaker than me!"

"The hell I am! What the fuck is wrong with you!"

"I want to keep you alive, is what!"

The other shinigami and Tatsuki looked on, getting a bit nervous at the building tension. Urahara waved his fan around. "Let's keep the bickering to a minimum, please." The two arrancar glared at him.

Unable to take any more of the arguing, Toushirou intervened; if it was impossible to decide, he would pull rank on them. "What do the captains here think? I think invasion is out of the question."

Shuuhei voted the same. "I think that it's reckless as well."

"I think if Seireitei sends the whole Gotei 13, we'll have a chance." was Renji's two cents.

Glancing around, Toushirou summarized, "So all the captains agree that with our current force, an invasion is impossible. I can ask the Commander if he will allow the rest of the captains and the lieutenants to join us in our attack."

Yoruichi narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that you should take invasion so lightly. Aizen will have changed his army significantly these last four years." She looked over to the arrancar, as if asking for confirmation.

Neliel nodded. "Yes, he has." She nudged Grimmjow with her foot. "Grimmjow, tell them what you know."

Making a face at her, Grimmjow complained, "Why can't you just explain? I tell you everything!"

Glaring at him, Neliel said, "You're the primary source. I've been a secondary source for the last three-quarters of a decade."

Seeing her point, Grimmjow relented. "...Alright. Aizen is building a hybrid army, using a woman to hollowfy humans who are spiritually capable."

Rangiku took a sharp intake of breath. That woman was Hinamori. Shuuhei gave Rangiku a sideways glance, knowing what she was thinking.

Though Grimmjow looked as if he was going to stop there, Neliel shot him a look so he continued. "Hybrids meaning you," he indicated towards Tatsuki, "and that other girl."

Clenching his teeth, Toushirou ground out, "That 'other girl' has a name, and it's Kurosaki Karin."

Grimmjow gave him an irritated look. "Whatever." Ignoring a reprimanding look from Neliel, he plowed on, "When I last left Las Noches, he had already gathered eight kids." Gazing around, he said, "And you'd better not underestimate them. They can defeat the lower ranking Espada, if not higher. Comprende?"

Exhaling, Neliel concluded, "So it would be a big mistake to arbitrarily call Soul Society to attack an enemy you can't measure the strength of. You need to test the waters first."

Tatsuki crossed her arms and leaned back against the boulder and said confidently, "Well, one good thing is that we can count on Karin to help us from inside."

Though the shinigami and the arrancar nodded, somehow, Urahara wasn't too sure about that. _'How did he make the other eight kids submit to his will? Has he increased Kyouka Suigetsu's abilites?'_

"So we've agreed that this is just a rescue and reconnaissance mission." Shuuhei stated.

Renji nodded in agreement. "We'll contact Soul Society with the info, and explain the situation."

Toushirou stepped in front of the two arrancar. "Let's see the layout of Las Noches, then. We're attacking tonight."

…

Group Exile now faced a completely different machine than the ones used to restore their memories. This chair had dozens of arms with about ten needles attached to each, and all were different lengths.

All the girls, and even the boys stared at this machine and nervously gulped.

Megumi asked in a quavering voice, "Do… we have to…" She looked slightly ill and didn't seem as if she wanted to even think about the end of her question.

As usual, Hiroshi smiled. "There's no need to be afraid, Megumi." Glancing at the rest of them, he said, "You are all strong enough as it is. So this'll only be used on those who have a powerful _desire_ to become stronger." He patted the chair fondly.

Karin immediately made to step out, but Kyo grabbed her by the back of the collar and held her back. "Listen to the rest of what he says. I had a bad feeling about the other brain machine, but this one's worse." He hissed in her ear.

About to protest, Karin was interrupted as Hiroshi resumed his explanation of the machine. "Though this will grant you much more power than now, it is not without its side effects." The kids waited with baited breath for Hiroshi to say just what the side effects were. He shrugged, "Well, even if I say side effects, they're all minor changes, only bringing out your inner self."

Kyo glared daggers at him. "Some _specifics_, please."

Hiroshi clucked his tongue. "Oh ye of little faith." When he saw that the others were also waiting for the list of 'minor changes' he sighed and continued, "You'll only get a little bit of a bigger appetite, and a minor decrease in self restraint."

All of Group Exile, except for Kyo, relaxed at this. Still, Kaoru and Megumi had their doubts, about the needles, at least.

"Um… I reaaally don't like shots." Kaoru stated. "I don't care about power enough to willingly go through ten lifetime's worth of shots."

Megumi seemed to be thinking along a similar line of thought, though unable to muster the courage to voice them. Instead, she huddled in the back. Hikari too, looked as if she had her doubts, but nevertheless stepped into the line with the others.

Karin made to go stand in line as well, but Kyo pulled her back, shaking his head. "Don't." He said quietly.

"Why not?" Karin insisted. "He said it only brings out your inner self and make you a bit hungrier. I don't care if I eat a little more. I'll burn it off during training anyways." Her eyes added silently, _'Don't you want revenge against the man who wants to massacre the arrancar? Who chased all these children out of their villages?_'

However, Kyo's eyes conveyed back to her that there was more to it.

Finally, Karin said, "You don't trust Hiroshi, do you?"

Heaving a sigh, Kyo said, "No, I don't. But there's more than that." Karin shot him a questioning look, and Kyo simply looked towards the chair.

Akito, who was first in line, sat down in the chair and braced himself for all the pointy extensions to pierce him. But he didn't seem prepared enough when the arms actually drove the needles into his skin, and he gave a muffled yell of pain.

Then, the electricity started to flow.

"Auuurrrrrgghhh!"

The roar sounded eerily familiar to everyone. Eyes wide, Karin watched in horror as Akito's body convulsed.  
Once his body had stopped twitching, Akito stood shakily from the chair. But he looked different, somehow. If his frame had looked tall before, he now looked just as muscled as well. But what disturbed Karin the most was the look in his eyes. They looked wild, uncontrollable, and without any sense of self.

But it did seem like he had a shred of sanity left, because he laughed and said, "What's with all your faces? Once you're past the initial pain, it feels great!"

In the back, Kyo translated in a quiet voice, "Yeah. What Hiroshi meant was in exchange for a power boost, we take on the traits of mindless hollows."

…

…

A/N: Huhuhu… Any theories about where the story is headed _now_?


	26. Re:The Meeting

**Chapter 26: Re:The Meeting**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, folks. Was sick for a few days… still sick even now, in fact, but not as feverish and roaming between wakefulness and sleep...

…

**Chapter 26**

Re:The Meeting

…

"Yeah. What Hiroshi meant was in exchange for a power boost, we take on the traits of mindless hollows." Kyo said grimly.

After this statement, Karin watched with growing dread as Sho too, climbed into the chair without the slightest hesitation. As the needles plunged into his dark skin and started the injection, Sho threw his head back from the pain, but made no sound, bearing the pain better than Akito had. When he rose from the chair, he also looked more muscled: even more so than Akito. The previously gentle boy cracked his neck and flexed his fists experimentally. His eyes, however, looked less eerie than Akito's.

'_Maybe his kind nature won through…' _Karin hoped.

Somewhat surprised, Sho turned to Akito. "Hey, you're right. It _does_ feel kinda good after the initial shock."

Akito replied angrily, "Why the tone of surprise? Were you thinking that I would be wrong? "

The Sho from before would have denied this, but not the Sho now. Crossing his dark arms, Sho looked at Akito straight in the eye. "Yes."

Hearing this reply, Akito, who had definitely become more aggressive after the procedure, grabbed Sho's collar and hissed, "Say that again."

The bigger Sho shook him off easily. "You must admit that you have a tendency to exaggerate things. No need to get so offended." He narrowed his eyes. "Or do you want to settle this by force?" And Sho was also definitely no longer as genial he had been before.

In fact, it was like watching two alpha males fighting for the head spot, Karin thought.

"Now, now, you'll get plenty of chances to fight later. Let us continue." Hiroshi turned to Ryou expectantly.

Ryou gazed at the machine pensively. She seemed to be weighing the pros against the cons, trying to decide whether to stay in the line or not. Finally, she stepped purposefully out of the line, having decided that the cons outweighed the pros.

"Sorry, I don't particularly want to become an incredible hulk." She said simply to Hiroshi.

Though Karin got the feeling Hiroshi was rather displeased by Ryou's decision, he shrugged and replied, "Your loss. You're always welcome to return."

Karin got the general gist of what Ryou meant. Even _she_ would think twice if she changed appearances like that, and Karin considered herself rather disinterested in the vanity department. Hikari, however, who seemed to think she had nothing to lose, stayed in line. Nevertheless, she trembled as she stepped forward into Hiroshi's (and the machine's) waiting arms.

Hiroshi beamed and sat Hikari down. "Don't worry about your appearance." he assured her.

Gripping the seat tightly, Hikari nodded, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. Hiroshi started to pull the lever down. Hikari screamed before the needles even touched her body, causing Hiroshi to freeze in mid-action.

Akito snorted. "If you're that afraid, then just join the other cowards over there."

His condescending tone antagonized Hikari, firming her resolve once and for all. "I'm _not _a coward! Keep going, Hiroshi!"

Smiling, Hiroshi did exactly as she said and yanked down the lever before Hikari had a chance to prepare herself. All the needles pierced her body, and she let out a blood-curdling scream, even more anguishing than the one she had let out before. It only grew in volume when the power was injected into her.

When she finally emerged, she was a head taller than before – almost as tall as Karin now – with a manic glint in her eyes. Slowly, her head turned toward the members of Group Exile who hadn't gone through the transformation yet, and she surreptitiously licked the corner of her bottom lip. Kohaku backed away.

From when he had first witnessed the results of the 'power boost,' Kohaku had looked uneasy, but after the latest and most drastic change in Hikari, he looked absolutely terrified. "Okay! I think that this steroid stuff is just scary. I'm out."

For the first time since Karin had met him, Hiroshi frowned. Seeing his beautiful face set in an unhappy face expression, Karin felt her blood briefly run cold.

"Only three people?" He looked around as if he expected more people to step out. He turned to Karin. "Karin?"

Kyo stepped protectively in front of her.

With what looked like an incredible effort, Hiroshi forced a grin. "Well, once you guys see the powers that these three have gained, you'll change your minds. Let's head over to the training room." He planned to pit the people who had gone through the transformation against those who hadn't.

"Nothing we can't get with thorough training, I'll bet." Kyo muttered under his breath as they walked across the hall.

As if he had heard this comment, Hiroshi turned on his heel and said loudly, "Let's pair up these three with another three brave enough to face them." He glanced around, a small smile gracing his face once again. This time, Karin thought had a sort of smugness behind it. "Any volunteers? No?"

To his surprise, all of the remaining members, even Megumi, stepped forward. His smile becoming rather fixed, he chose three of them. In the end, Ryou, Kohaku, and Kyo, were paired with Sho, Hikari, and Akito respectively.

The first pair that Hiroshi selected to fight was Ryou versus Sho, but as Karin watched from the wall with the others, given Sho's personality, even taking the transformation into account, she thought that the spar would end without bloodshed.

Ryou summoned her weapon, *Kika, which materialized in the form of black calf-high boots. When Karin had initially sparred against Ryou, she had first underestimated the power of these boots and been dumped on her behind – literally. Not only did the boots allow Ryou to execute kicks - if well-aimed - that could destroy organs in the body, but also allowed her to travel at even faster speeds than sonido.

Next was Sho. Pre-transformation, his weapon had been a large, plain broadsword. But the weapon Sho summoned now looked like it had been wrought in the depths of hell; the steel was dark and twisted. Though Ryou looked a little surprised at the changed appearance of Sho's weapon, she remained relatively calm, even indifferent to what it implied.

Grinning fiercely, Sho attacked first.

Not only had his appearance changed, but he had gotten faster too, Karin noted. But for all his enhanced speed, he could not catch Ryou, who had Kika to boost her speed, so he hacked uselessly at her afterimages.

After a few minutes of fruitless chasing, Sho changed tactics and abruptly stopped moving. _'He's waiting for Ryou to come to him,' _Karin realized.

At last, Ryou began her counterattack, and started out by tossing a bunch of hollow bullets his way. Sho dodged one, and negated the other. Literally a blur in the air, she kicked at him, she fired a cero that Karin had only recently mastered, which Sho also negated.

"C'mon Kunieda, fight me properly." he said lazily.

Out of nowhere, a foot shot out towards Sho's chest. He put his sword just in time to block it; it would have smashed into him, had he not been prepared for a head-on attack. But Sho was unprepared for the following kick from behind him, which hit his neck, throwing him forward several meters.

Dust rose up, obscuring the group's view of what had happened.

To Karin's right, Hikari commented, "What a shame, I wish I could have had a bite out of her first."

Karin found these words very odd, and not because they were talking about Ryou like she was food, either. And apparently she wasn't the only one, as Kaoru pointed out, "Uh… Hikari-neechan, it was Ryou-neechan who won."

Hikari snickered at this. "Oh, it's not quite over yet."

She was right. After the dust had settled down, Sho remained unscathed, and his sword was nowhere to be seen.

Ryou narrowed her eyes and in a flash, was right in front of him, ready to deal him another blow, but Sho had prepared for another attack. Out of nowhere, his large twisted sword rammed down between Ryou's neck and shoulder. Blood spurted out from her wound, and Ryou stared, disbelieving, as she fell back.

The Sho preceding the transformation would never have purposefully dealt a such a severe wound to his comrade - no matter if it could be healed. But he now stood in front of Ryou, bloodthirstiness dripping from his eyes, and he raised his sword to deal the finishing blow.

Uttering a cry, Megumi ran out from the wall and dashed to Ryou's side.

"Ryou-neesan!" Facing Sho, she spread her trembling arms, in a valiant motion to protect Ryou. Tears streaking down her face, Megumi's words tumbled out. "Sho-kun! Please! Have mercy on her!"

As if Megumi's words had made him regain his senses, Sho slowly lowered his sword, staring at the bleeding Ryou with the sobbing Megumi before him.

His eyes, now empty of bloodlust, widened. The dark sword disappeared and Sho stumbled back, horrified of what he had been about to do. He had been ready to kill the one woman who hadn't ostracized him when he had first been inducted into Group Exile.

**Flashback**

_Hikari and Akito, the de facto leaders of Group Exile, had ignored him at first. Kaoru, who was younger, just followed their lead, as did the shy Megumi. But one day, Kaoru asked, "Hey, why are we ignoring Sho nii-san? Is it because of his dark skin?"_

_Seeing how Sho was nearby and probably could hear every word, Hikari had shushed Kaoru, but her face told the truth. Hurt that he faced discrimination even in Hueco Mundo, he turned his back to the group._

_But Kunieda Ryou, her nose almost always buried in a book and still more laid back in personality, answered instead, "It's because he doesn't stand up for himself." She looked up from her book and called over to him, "Oi, Hashimoto."_

_After his surname was called, he reluctantly looked back. "What is it?" He asked quietly._

_She beckoned and indicated that he come over. Nervously standing up, he asked again, "What is it?"_

_Snapping her book shut, she stood up, strode over to him and rapped the book's spine over his head. "You're a man, aren't you? So act like one. Tell those kids your skin represents your heritage, and that you're proud of it." Giving him a sharp look, she asked, "Unless you ashamed...?"_

_Sho mutely shook his head. For Ryou, that was an uncharacteristically long speech. She looked back down at her book and her face gained a hint of a rueful expression. Shooting Sho a sour look, she commented, "Now I've lost my place in 'Paradise Lost.'"_

_Sho quirked a grin at the joke._

**Flashback End**

Overwhelmed by remorse, Sho fell to his knees, clutching his head.

Seeing that Sho had fallen rather steeply from his battle high, Hiroshi took hold of his shoulders and coaxed him back to his feet and away from the battle arena. "It's alright. You'll only feel like this the first time."  
Sho's body shook so much that Karin couldn't tell if he had twitched away at Hiroshi's touch or not. When he came back, he stood some distance away from the rest of Group Exile, as if he feared that he would relapse and hurt more people.

Hiroshi then assured Megumi, "Ryou will be fine. An arrancar will take her to the infirmary." He snapped his fingers and an arrancar appeared out of nowhere, picking up Ryou. After the arrancar had disappeared once again, Hiroshi turned his head and called out to the next pair. "Hikari and Kohaku, please?"

***Kika = Dangerous Shoes **(I bet you're all laughing, but I couldn't think of anything else… T.T It sounds cooler in Japanese, though? ...no? T.T)

…

The shinigami mulled over the rough map of Las Noches that Nel had drawn.

Toushirou glanced at Urahara, who had remained silent during the whole time Nel had drawn and explained the maps of Las Noches. Noticing his look, Urahara shrugged and said, "This time I won't be coming along. After all, your mission is to rescue Karin-san. You don't need me in the front lines for that. Though it would be different story if we were actually _invading _Las Noches."

Toushirou gauged him for a second, but the shopkeeper's poker face was impenetrable. Unable to garner any ill intent - or any intentions at all - behind that damned play face, Toushirou returned to the discussion, where the others were now hashing out the details.

"So you…" Rukia pointed to Grimmjow, who sat on the ground with his back leaning against a boulder, "will open the garganta into Hueco Mundo. Where will we land? In Las Noches?"

Neliel snorted. "Not if _he_ does it, we won't. He tends to land miles away from the planned destination." (Damnit Neliel! Not _miles_!) Ignoring Grimmjow, Neliel announced, "_I'll_ be opening the garganta into…" she pointed near the far northwest corner on the schematics of the third-level-basement in Las Noches, "here. Grimmjow said this is nearby where Karin should be." She moved her finger slightly up, to the way corner. "North to it are some small miscellaneous rooms and most importantly, their supposed training room. East of it are their personal bedrooms, and to the south – "

"With what grounds?" Toushirou asked.

Neliel raised her head from the map, giving Toushirou a puzzled look.

Toushirou repeated, "On what grounds are you confident that Karin is there? 'Should be.' That means you aren't completely sure." He directed this statement to Grimmjow.

Grimmjow snapped, "What about just taking my word for it?"

Neliel elbowed him and asked, "What happened to your motto of 'don't trust anybody but yourself?' Does 'anybody' exclude you?"

"Shut up."

Toushirou cut in coldly, "I refuse to lead shinigami to their potential deaths without any proof whether the person we're looking for is really there or not."

"Che." Grimmjow made an irritated face. "It's where the hybrids stay. That girl's a hybrid, so she should've been sent there." After thinking for a moment, he added, "They also have dungeons and caja negacion for those who misbehave…" He trailed off, returning to his examination of his gigai.

As Toushirou leaned back on a boulder and closed his eyes, playing out the scenario of the coming plan in his mind, Ichigo started at the mention of caja negacion. "Caja - ! Isn't that what you used to delay Ulquiorra…? In another – "

Grimmjow vaguely completed Ichigo's sentence, "Yeah, yeah. Another dimension." Engrossed with his gigai's hand, he murmured, "Man, that Urahara guy is a genius."

Floored at the way Grimmjow managed to look so completely disinterested at the fate of his sister, Ichigo said heatedly, "Didn't you say that it would seal the arrancar in the other dimension _forever_?"

Shooting Ichigo an exasperated look, Grimmjow replied, "That's the case for _weaker_ arrancar. Your sister is nowhere near weak. Ulquiorra broke out after a few hours, remember? Besides, Aizen wouldn't allow her to be shut in another dimension; she's one of his 'precious' hybrids."

The group lapsed into silence, each buried in his or her thoughts and Grimmjow going back to admiring his gigai.

Toushirou continued to envision the halls of Las Noches as Neliel had drawn them on the map. He got to the part where they split up, some heading for the training ground, others for the private rooms, and yet others to the dungeons. Given Karin's personality, he decided that the training area had the highest probability of being Karin's location - even higher than the prisons - so he would go with that group. But he got stuck there.

Toushirou frowned, going over the plan again. But try as he might, he couldn't get past that part. It was always cut short when it came to the point of actually retrieving her. Who would they encounter there? Would they be powerful? Grimmjow had said that the other successful experiments were on par with the Espada, so they probably would be… but would they really attack them? Wouldn't Karin just tell them that they were with her? Or would she be locked up? Toushirou turned these thoughts over and over in his mind, as if attempting to make pancakes over a stove set at an extremely low setting.

Fingering his chin, Renji broke the silence by voicing his thoughts, "I think it'll be better to go with fewer people. It's less noticeable."

Pausing in the process testing his finger joints, Grimmjow looked up with a raised brow, disbelief clear on his face. "Were you listening with your _nostrils_ when I said that the hybrids were _on par_ with the Espada?"

"You'll need a force of at least eight people if we encounter them. And that's assuming that we don't encounter the remaining Espada." Neliel explained.

Now experimenting his gigai's jaw's flexibility, Grimmjow added in a rather garbled voice, "Aizen'll 've replaced me an' th' other Espada by now."

"I'll go too."

Ichigo turned to Tatsuki, who had thrown that sentence out of the blue. Staring at her, he unwittingly commented on an unrelated tangent. "Inoue's really worried about you, you know."

Tatsuki replied, "I know. I've been to see her."

Looking straight at his childhood friend, Ichigo asked, "Do you really want to go with us?"

Clenching her fists, Tatsuki said firmly, "Of course I do! I'm the reason she got captured in the first place."

Toushirou, who had still been internally going over the plan until then, opened one crystal-blue eye, which swiveled over to Tatsuki. "You can only come along if you can hold your own against one of us."

Tatsuki obviously had not expected this. "Toushi – "

"It's _Hitsugaya-Taichou._" Toushirou gave Tatsuki an icy glare that looked positively dangerous.

Though she faltered at the young captain's face expression, Tatsuki nevertheless continued, "But I've trained with Neliel and Renji. I'm strong enough."

Pushing himself off of the boulder, Toushirou reached back for his sword. "Then prove it."

Rukia hurriedly came in between them. Renji explained to Tatsuki in a reasonable tone, "It's because you might hold us back."

Tatsuki looked affronted at his bluntness. "I won't hold – "

Renji interrupted her protest. "Yoruichi-san or Kira will heal you, so just fight someone, if you want to prove that you can handle it."

Infuriated, Tatsuki chose the shinigami she thought looked strongest. In her mind, Shuuhei looked the strongest, as he had three parallel scars on the side of his face – her inductive reasoning was that the more scars you had, the more experienced in battle you were. "I'll fight you."

Surprised, Shuuhei pointed at himself. "Me?"

Tatsuki nodded. "You look the strongest."

As a captain and same rank as Shuuhei, Renji looked quite offended at this. "What? And _I_ don't look strong?"

Casting the redhead a scornful look, Tatsuki threw back, "I won't even answer that one."

"Why you – " Ichigo made a face as he had to hold Renji back using both arms.

As Shuuhei stood up with a resigned sigh, Tatsuki rolled up a sleeve and said with a grin, "Don't go easy on me now."

…

Kohaku lay on the ground, beaten and bloodied up after his battle with Hikari.

Hikari licked a finger covered in blood. "Hmph. Is that all you have? What a waste of my appetite." Shrugging, she sauntered off the field.

She had toyed with him all along and Hiroshi intervened just in time to prevent her from finishing Kohaku off. "Now, now, Hikari. Don't kill him. He's a comrade. Save your strength for enemies."

Hikari tossed her dark chestnut hair. "As if it would take any energy to kill him." But she walked away. Hiroshi summoned another arrancar to take Kohaku to the infirmary to join Ryou.

As if he'd been waiting for this, Akito jumped out without Hiroshi even having to call him.

Kyo stepped forward as well, but before he could leap down, Karin grabbed his wrist. He looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. I'm your twin, remember?"

Grin spreading slowly across her face, Karin slid her hand down and clasped his hand. "That's right. And my twin's strong, just like me." Her face expression suddenly switched from the grin into one of mock scolding, "Be careful though."

Kyo laughed. "What are you, my mother?"

Lightly leaping out, he landed in front of Akito, who had already called forth his weapon, a rapier. Though before it had been a regular plain fencing sword, now it was almost needle-thin – invisible from where Karin stood. All she saw was the skeletal looking gnarled hilt.

In turn, Kyo summoned his own twin swords, Kyuu.

Pretending to examine his transformed weapon, Akito said, "I'll finally get revenge on you for humiliating me."

Kyo blinked and stared, showing no signs of comprehension. Akito jerked his head up towards Karin. "In front of your _sister_."

Kyo's face turned stony. Akito did an experimental jab. "You're not really her brother, are you?"

At this, Kyo's face rapidly turned from stony to enraged. He lunged towards Akito with both swords. Blocking them both with his long fencing blade, Akito's lips curled up in delight at finding Kyo's sore spot and 'rage button.'

Sliding his rapier into an angle that allowed him to drive his opponent back, Akito whispered in Kyo's ear, "You just want her for yourself, don't you? _Kurosaki_ Kyo?"

As she intently watched the battle, Karin saw Akito's mouth move and Kyo darken with anger. But she couldn't hear what the two were talking about; they were too far away. But she suddenly heard Kyo shout, "It's not like that!" and swing both of his blades outwards, blasting Akito away.

Midblast, however, Akito regained his balance and landed on his feet. Grinning, he dropped into a fencing stance that mimicked a stance of drunken fist – appearing unstable but actually using the swaying movement as to be unpredictable. Then he suddenly disappeared.

With a clearer head than before, Kyo predicted the direction from whence Akito's attack would come from and turned, blocking the strike with a single sword. He hid a wince. Even if Akito used a much thinner blade, his attacks now made Kyo's arm go numb. Despite the numbness, he used the other blade to counterattack.

He struck home. Akito was bleeding from where the sword had skewered him. Looking down at Kyuu, he snorted. Then with a spray of blood, he wrenched himself free. To everyone's surprise, Akito then ignored the wound and launched himself towards Kyo. Narrowly avoiding being skewered by the rapier, Kyo looked down at Akito's wound and his eyes widened; it was healing. Cursing, he parried Akito's next attack with his two black swords in a cross formation, learning from last time it was near impossible to just block with a single blade. Then, sliding a single sword from the deadlock, Kyo used it to slice downwards.

Abruptly, Akito's arm that was raised to balance his body into the fencing position fell off, sliced at the bicep. Gritting his teeth, Akito swiped his rapier unsteadily; even then, he had enough power to make Kyo skid back.

"Bastard! What have you done – " But his words cut short. Before their very eyes, Akito's left arm grew back, first a new bone sprouting out, then the bone covered by flesh, the skin covering it last. Akito looked maniacally delighted as he examined his arm and flexed his new arm.

Karin realized that the machine had granted Akito high-speed-regeneration powers – not unlike some Menos. Though part of her envied this power, most of her worried for Kyo.

Kyo could hold his own, she knew. His skills were on par with, if not superior to hers, and she had won against Akito in every sparring session by a mile - though the steroid machine could improve physical powers and innate abilities, it couldn't improve technique and pure skill.

But even Kyo would be hard pressed to win in a fight without killing Akito. She had a distinct feeling that Hiroshi would be very displeased if Akito were to be killed. But on the other hand, if Kyo held back, it was likely he would be the one killed instead.

…

Unable to untangle the scenario in his head, Toushirou asked Neliel, "Do the arrancar have some sort of barrier around Las Noches that will alert them?"

Neliel shook her head. "Not for garganta, they don't. But if anyone tears an opening into Hueco Mundo with something other than a garganta, an alarm will sound." Glancing at the shinigami outfits around her, she sighed, "Then again, using a garganta might be useless if the Las Noches barrier is set to react to shinigami."

"…Do you know how the arrancar will react if they find out? The arrancar in the vicinity of the area we'll be infiltrating."

Neliel shook her head and said, "I'm three-quarters of a decade antiquated, remember?" She turned and poked Grimmjow. "Hey. Did you hear his question?"

Annoyed at the poke, Grimmjow said waspishly, "Of course I did. I'm sitting right beside you."

Poking him again, Neliel asked, "Then answer his question."

Crossing his arms, Grimmjow shrugged. "Can't. Don't know any of the arrancar near there. Never bothered to get to know them."

Toushirou sighed.

Tatsuki was drenched in sweat even though Shuuhei hadn't even released his zanpakutou.

Sheathing Kazeshini, Shuuhei said to her, "Give up. You've chosen the wrong guy to fight."

From behind, Renji clapped Tatsuki on the shoulder. "Yeah. Train, then when we invade Hueco Mundo for real, you can come with us."

Angrily, Tatsuki shrugged off Renji's hand and stomped off. Once she reached the ladder, she jumped up the hatch.

Renji looked puzzled. He turned to Ichigo and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, she's just like that when she loses." Ichigo replied. He thought for a moment and added, "Well. That's what she was like when she lost a sparring session back in middle school, anyways. I haven't seen her lose a fight since then, though."

Renji turned the discussion towards the shinigami participating in the rescue mission. "Is your dad coming?"

Clapping his hands to his knees, Ichigo stood up. "Nah. My old man's not coming this time; he says he'll leave it to us." _'Specifically, to me.' _he added to himself.

**Flashback**

_Isshin clapped Ichigo on the shoulder. "I'm leaving Karin to you, son."_

_Ichigo was confused. "Aren't you coming, Oyaji?"_

_Looking Ichigo in the eyes Isshin said seriously, "No. Yuzu's starting to get suspicious." Glancing sideways towards Karin and Yuzu's room, he continued, "She's used to you being gone, but I can't leave her alone again." There was a silent implication of the aftermath of the mansion fiasco, where Yuzu had come downstairs and caught them all in the hospital room._

_Abashed that he had forgotten about his other younger sister, Ichigo hung his head. "Yuzu…" He murmured. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo raised his head once again._

_Giving his son another encouraging slap on the back, Isshin said, "Bring Karin back safe home." He pointed at himself and winked, "Yuzu and I'll keep this house ready for her."_

_Ichigo nodded and said in return, "Take care of Yuzu while I'm gone."_

_At this, Isshin's expression became disdainful and he hit Ichigo over the head. "Insolent! Are you lecturing your father now? You forget that you were the one who disappeared for months on end! Hurry up and go to the hospital room and see if that blue-haired arrancar has woken up yet!"_

**Flashback End**

Turning towards Toushirou, then Neliel, Ichigo asked, "You guys done discussing the plan?"

Annoyed that Ichigo hadn't been listening to the discussion that had taken place right beside his ear, Toushirou parried the question with another question. "Do you really think we can predict the arrancar's movements if even Grimmjow doesn't know?"

"Uhh…"

At Ichigo's lack of a coherent answer, Toushirou answered his own question. "We can't. If we can't predict what the opponent will do, we certainly can't make a plan. All we can do is prepare for the start of the infiltration itself. We will have to rely on our own instincts from then on."

Neliel shrugged. "Well, arrancar usually play things by ear anyways. Types who prepare for an invasion are rare among us. So it's the same on both sides."

She shed her gigai, and pulled Grimmjow from his. Neliel drew a line in the air, and turned around as the interdimensional rift opened. "Shall we go?"

…

"Aizen-sama! We've picked up the energies of nine shinigami in the third level basement!"

Aizen closed his eyes in enjoyment as he felt familiar presences enter his fortress._ 'Urahara Kisuke isn't with them, I see.'_ He noted a spiritual presence that _was _present. _'Ah… Kurosaki Ichigo.'_The corners of his lips twisted upwards the littlest bit. _'He's in for a little surprise.'_

Out loud, he said, "Have Group Exile defend the stronghold, as they are closest."

Thinking of Ichigo once more, Aizen's smile widened as he added, "Tell them to attack to kill."

…

Having exited the garganta, the party of eleven, comprised of nine shinigami and two arrancar, stood in a hallway.

Grimmjow looked around and affirmed, "This looks right."

The shinigami too, glanced around, but as the hall looked completely white and plain, they didn't know exactly _what _there was to prove 'looked right.' Then again, they hadn't lived in Las Noches either. So they took Grimmjow's word for it, hoping to whatever they each believed in that the short-tempered arrancar was right.

"Now what?" Ichigo looked around.

Toushirou informed him, "The room with the highest probability is the training room" He looked down the seemingly endless corridor, at what he instinctively knew was north.

Neliel asked Grimmjow, "Are the prisons still located in the same place?" He nodded and they started to leave, but Rangiku grabbed Neliel's sleeve.

"I'd like to go as well." Rangiku's voice was quiet. But his lieutenant's plea had not escaped Toushirou's keen ears, and what he'd heard took him aback.

Rangiku always followed his orders on the battlefield; it was unusual of her to take initiative without his command. Eyes flickering to Shuuhei, who seemed to have been expecting this, Toushirou's eyes narrowed. The Tenth Division Captain then declared, "I'm going to the training room. Who wants to come with me?" Seeming to remember what Toushirou had said about the training room having the highest possibility, Ichigo immediately stepped forward, and Rukia after him. Toushirou glanced towards his lieutenant, though he knew what her answer would be. "Are you coming, Matsumoto?"

Rangiku smiled at him. "I'd like to go with Neliel to check out the prison cells. You're my captain, so the final say lies with you, but you aren't going to order me to come with you, are you, Taichou?"

Though her words were undoubtedly true, the smile she wore while saying it was too big to be real, Toushirou realized. _'Matsumoto's hiding something from me.'_

It had been the same right before and after Ichimaru had left Soul Society, Rangiku forcing smiles and acting nonchalant when her feelings were in complete turmoil. But that time, what she had been hiding had been her own doubts concerning Ichimaru. _'What's she hiding this time?'_ Toushirou wondered briefly, before shoving the thought out of his mind.

Though he had the martial authority of a captain, the very same captain had no right to invade their subordinate's private affairs. It was no business of his. And so he nodded his

And they had a more urgent situation at hand.

As Shuuhei, Rangiku, and Neliel headed towards the prisons, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Kira headed east, that left Ichigo, Toushirou, Rukia and Renji for north.

Towards the training room.

…

As Kyo and Akito fought, Karin felt an odd tingle run through her body. She dismissed it as nervousness on Kyo's behalf, and returned to watching the battle.

Kyo had severed several of Akito's limbs, but all of them had grown back. The only way to keep Akito down was to deal a fatal blow to the neck or organs – but Kyo couldn't do that. It wasn't that he feared retribution; what he feared was felling a comrade. But Akito didn't seem to reciprocate the feeling. He lunged at Kyo without any hesitation. He only had the intent to kill. Finally, Kyo merged his swords – just as Karin occasionally did during sparring sessions.

It was the first time Karin had seen Kyo do it, but as she craned her neck for a closer look, she felt another tingle travel up her spine, stronger this time. This was the second time, and it was too strong to be just nervousness. It had to be something or someone else. She quickly turned around. It seemed to be coming from behind the wall…

She heard Megumi gasp and swirled her head round again to the battle.

Kyo had caught the needle-like point of the rapier by the flat of his sword, blocking it right before it pierced his chest. With the merged sword, Kyo flung Akito off, who, despite his considerable growth in frame, somersaulted in the air to land on his feet.

Karin, again distracted by the strange feeling. The tingling had turned into an outright buzzing in her ears, and she whipped around to face the door. _'Somebody – no… a group of people are here.'_

As if on cue, an arrancar opened the door, followed by a healed Ryou.

'_Kohaku must not have recovered yet.' _It wasn't surprising, as Hikari had torn almost every square inch of his skin, barely sparing his life. Ryou gave Sho a cold look, and ashamed, he looked away.

Just in case, Karin tested the arrancar and Ryou with her spiritual energy. It was just as she thought. _'They weren't the ones giving off that feeling…'_ Karin frowned. Then who was it?

The fight between Kyo and Akito raged on regardless of the arrancar's appearance. However, their entrance caught Hiroshi's attention and he was there in a flash. "Ah, Ryou." The arrancar didn't leave after fulfilling the task of escorting Ryou back, and instead spoke, "Hiroshi-sama."

Hiroshi turned and asked, "Yes?"

As Ryou went over to a relieved Megumi who had started crying all over again, Karin tried to discern what Hiroshi and the arrancar were talking about, her eyes flashing back and forth between them.

As Hiroshi nodded, the arrancar bowed and backed away out of the door. Looking uncharacteristically solemn, Hiroshi clapped his hands, calling for the attention of Group Exile.

Though most of the members turned to him, Kyo and Akito were still going at it.

Firmly and loudly, Hiroshi said, "Enough. Save your strength for the enemies that have infiltrated Las Noches."

This demanded even Kyo and Akito's attention. They both slowly lowered their swords. So that was what the tingling feeling had been, Karin thought.

"Yes. The enemy – Karakura – has invaded our our sanctuary. Aizen-sama has ordered for us kill them, to protect our stronghold."

All the kids' faces changed at the mention of Karakura. Karin felt her blood boil, and she clenched her fists. No doubt the other kids felt the same. Her face darkening, she pulled out Koutetsu. Immediately, Kyo was at her side with an equally ferocious look on his face. After glancing at each other and nodding, they took off immediately, out the door and down the hallway, towards where they felt the energy coming from.

They skidded to a stop when they saw a four people clad in black. Right at their heels, the rest of Group Exile – save for Kohaku – stopped dead in their tracks as well. The group of four looked just as taken aback as they did.

Running her eyes over the four shinigami, Karin vaguely noted only the shortest one had a normal black hair color. The other ones were orange, red and white. _'Are these people really from Karakura…? They look more like…'_

"Shinigami." Kaoru said. "They're the evil dudes who wipe out hollows."

Before Karin had time to wonder what shinigami had to do with Karakura, all at once, the shinigami all rushed towards her.

…

…

A/N: Onto the next chapter…


	27. Back to Karakura

**Chapter 27: Back to Karakura**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Bombs away… Another *hectic* battle scene ahead.

**Congratulations, RaginaCaelum, for being my 200th reviewer! As a prize, I present to you a picture from your very own fic, A Time of Firsts: crystallinex. deviantart art/A-Time-of-Firsts-lineart-200519427**

[Get rid of the spaces around 'deviantart']

…

**Chapter 27**

Back to Karakura

…

Kyo cried out, "Karin!"

The shinigami all rushed towards her, but instead of attacking, much to Karin's surprise, the silver-haired shinigami swept her into his arms, embracing her tightly. Her eyes widened – she felt a tear slide down the side of her cheek, and a sudden urge to hug him back. But she had no idea why.

She regained her senses and her eyes immediately narrowed again, and she tightened her grip on one of Koutetsu's blades.

"Karin…" Toushirou whispered into her hair.

He froze when he felt metal press against his skin. The edge felt so hot that he could have sworn his skin sizzled at the contact, but there was no mistaking that sharp texture, though he had only felt it once in his early shinigami days.

Karin was holding a sword at his neck. Toushirou's blood ran cold and he drew back to look at Karin's face. She glared at him with eyes void of recognition, much less relief. Void of, as much as he didn't want to admit it, love or affection of any sort, that he had expected - no, desired. He felt a pang in his heart. The pain was beyond comparison with when Momo was pointing her sword at him.

Toushirou loosened her from his hold and backed off slowly, with Karin still leveling her sword at his throat.

When he had withdrawn sufficiently for her line of vision to be clear, Karin saw that the other shinigami hadn't even drawn their weapons. On the contrary, their faces were frozen between relief and puzzlement. The orange-haired shinigami in particular looked confused, as he stared at Karin's red swords.

Toushirou stared at Karin in disbelief; there wasn't one spark of recognition in her eyes as they slid over all the shinigami. There wasn't a hitch in her gaze, even as it passed over her brother.

Toushirou could rationalize away at how she didn't recognize himself. Even though they had been through a lot together, they hadn't known each other for that long, after all. It was completely understandable, Toushirou thought. But his heart collided painfully against his ribs, as if it didn't agree with his mind.

But he couldn't rationalize how she couldn't recognize her brother. Even if she had gotten amnesia, shouldn't she at least pause over her own family? She didn't recognize any of them.

He realized then. _'Aizen… you bastard.'_

While the shinigami stood in shock, the other Group Exile members took the chance to attack, two members to one shinigami.

Blocking the attack of the big dark-skinned boy, Renji exhibited his spiritual energy to signal that they had found Karin for the other shinigami. _'Come on, come on, come on…'_ He chanted inside his head, waiting for the reply they had agreed upon. He felt another flare of spiritual energy from two different directions in response. He sighed in relief and released his zanpakutou to intercept the spiked fan from his right, wielded by a deceptively demure looking girl. Now they only had to stall for time.

"Don't harm the kids!" Toushirou shouted.

"But they're trying to harm _me_!" Renji protested. "It's self defense!"

"They're just humans!" Toushirou snapped back.

Growing impatient, Kyo pulled Kyuu apart back into two black swords and made to attack Toushirou.

But Karin held out an arm, stopping him. "Wait." She told Kyo. "He knew my name." She continued to stare at Toushirou. "Who are you…?"

Gazing at her calmly now, Toushirou replied, "You knew me."

Karin slowly shook her head, keeping her eyes trained on the silver haired boy. She didn't know why the shadowed figure from her dreams that caused her to feel a terrible ache in her heart came to mind. Quelling the thought, she replied, "No. I've gained nearly all my memories back. And you're not in them."

As if engaged in a staring contest, both of them continued to examine each other; Karin, for any signs of weaknesses in the silver haired boy; Toushirou, for any signs of recognition.

"So how do you know me?" A sudden thought occurring to her, she asked quietly, "Do you know a platinum-blonde man with a white and green hat?"

Compulsively, Toushirou answered, "Urahara Kisuke."

That was answer enough for Karin. She and Kyo simultaneously crouched and flash-stepped to gain higher ground from both sides of Toushirou.

Gritting his teeth, Toushirou had no choice but to draw Hyourinmaru to block all four swords flying down at him. They were strong, he realized, as the floor beneath his feet cracked with the force from above. He struggled even more as the boy resembling Karin merged his swords together and smashed down even harder, with Karin's two swords steadfastly holding Hyourinmaru down.

"What's happening?" Ichigo exclaimed while fighting off boomerangs and the polar opposite of the thick Zangetsu, a needle-thin fencing sword. "Karin! Why are you attacking us?"

Karin shouted back, "Who are you guys, and how do you know me?"

Eyes widening, Ichigo failed to block Akito's rapier, which plunged through his left forearm and pinned him to the wall. Akito grinned sadistically at Ichigo's grunt of pain. "You shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent." He powered up a cero in his left hand.

Ichigo summoned his hollow mask just in time, and was able to negate the attack. Under his mask, Ichigo grimaced as he wrenched his arm free from the wall.

The hollow mask confused Akito. Nonplussed he asked, "Wait, what? How did you do that? Are you one of us?"

Ichigo's response was to use Getsuga Tenshou at Akito, which sliced diagonally through the younger boy's torso. Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, Toushirou muttered, "Tsk! I _told_ him not to harm the humans...!"

Akito expected for his body to heal on its own, but it didn't. Panicking, he looked down at his wound, which bled sluggishly. The skin was patching up, but at an agonizingly slow rate.

Having felt his attack hit his younger opponent, Ichigo dashed off towards Karin, who was still attacking Toushirou alongside Kyo. Kaoru threw three razor sharp boomerangs at Ichigo, but though one grazed the top of his head, none of them hit his body.

Ichigo grabbed Karin's shoulder and turned her partially around, narrowly avoiding being sliced in two by the crimson blade in her left hand. He looked directly at her.

"Tell me you're joking."

Momentarily, Karin paused. His orange hair reminded her of the flash of orange in her dreams. They were the same shade… shaking the dreams from her head, she swirled her whole body around to face him instead of Toushirou. "Why would I be? I don't know you."

Rukia, who was nearby and battling Ryou and Hikari, shouted, "Ichigo! Isn't this a classmate of yours?" She pointed towards Ryou.

Irritated, Ichigo bellowed back, "What are you talking about? Can't you see I'm - " but when he glimpsed Kunieda Ryou, he drew in a sharp breath. "Kunieda!"

The long-haired girl stopped mid-kick, and Rukia took advantage of that to leap nimbly away.

"You know me?" Ryou asked.

At that point, the other six shinigami and two arrancar arrived and immediately joined the fray. With a force of eleven, the rescue team now outnumbered Group Exile.

Then they spotted the two arrancar, and thought they were the back up. Despite his still healing wound, Akito snarled, "Back off! We can handle this!"

Grimmjow sneered, "Who said we were here to help _you_?" With a disdainful look towards Akito, who was down on one knee and holding his wound. "Though you look like you need it, half dead as you are."

Still facing Rukia, Hikari said to Neliel, "Don't interfere." As Rukia backpedaled against her stronger attacks, Hikari smiled. "I got this."

"Sorry, but it looks like I'll have to interefere after all." Neliel answered.

Hikari opened her mouth to argue, but was shocked as Neliel's hand blocked her staff. Neliel jumped back as the staff had cut a bit past her hierro. Raising her eyebrow while she examined the wound on her pinky finger, Neliel said, "Quite a sharp staff, isn't it?"

Grinding her teeth, Hikari asked, "Why are you doing this? Why side with them?"

Eyeing Hikari with half-lidded amber eyes, Neliel replied, "To quote Sun Tzu, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Or as Grimmjow phrased it, 'the enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally.'"

There were more exclamations of surprise and alarm from Group Exile at the attacks of the arrancar. It seemed they now viewed the arrancar under Aizen's cause gone rogue. Kaoru especially sounded hurt, as he had known the blue haired arrancar before he had been expelled from the Espada. "Grimmjow-nii-sama!"

Grimmjow eyed the kid mercilessly. "Move, if you don't want to get hurt."

Brandishing his boomerangs, Kaoru held his ground. "Not until you tell me why you betrayed Aizen-sama!"

With a sigh, Grimmjow said, "I don't need to explain such things to a brat like you. Go play with your toys." As the boomerangs broke apart, he smiled nastily, "Oh wait. They're broken now."

He turned away as Kaoru crumpled to the ground. "Che. He was always the weakest among the Group Exile. Both in mind and strength."

At Ichigo's silence, Ryou repeated, "Do you know me?"

Bewildered and slightly thrown off by the appearance of his allies, Ichigo stuttered, "Y-yeah… we were classmates back in freshman year of high school, remember?" He had thought that Kunieda Ryou of Karakura High's track team* was spacey, but to think that she didn't even remember the only orange-haired student in her class…

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't sense Karin coming from the side to attack him. Rukia blocked Karin's swords just in time.

"Karin!" She exclaimed. "You don't recognize your own brother?"

"What?" Karin yelped, "_He's_ my brother." She pointed at the black haired boy who resembled her. "My twin." She turned and called to him, "Right, Kyo?"

"Kinda busy here!" Kyo called back, no longer fighting against Toushirou but now Izuru. He panted and struggled to hold up his sword as Kyuu grew heavier and heavier each time he parried the oddly shaped sword that his opponent carried. "What's going on?" He yelled with frustration as his sword plunged edge-first into the white tiles of Las Noches.

"Wabisuke doubles the weight of whatever it strikes." Izuru replied.

Kyo forced a grin, giving up on dislodging the tip of Kyuu embedded in the floor. "That's a troublesome ability, isn't it? What if you accidentally hit yourself with it?"

Unperturbed by the jab, Izuru said, "I'll clarify then, whatever 'metal' it hits."

Kyo's left hand inched forward towards the hilt of his sword. "Hm. Then you must not wear any amour beneath that baggy hakama of yours." He grasped Kyuu's hilt with both hands. "But will your swords ability still work after this?" In a ripping motion, Kyo split Kyuu back into two swords.

Izuru's eyes widened with surprise. "What – "

He had to dodge Kyo's thrust. It seemed that he had succeeded in negating Wabisuke's specialty. If he could split them, then he could merge them, and he could only assume that when he combined them, they would lose whatever weight Wabisuke would cause them to gain. "Then I'll just make both of them too heavy to hold!" He lunged again, intending to make sure Kyo couldn't combine the two swords again.

Rukia instinctively raised her sword to parry Karin's blade and danced away from the other blade that Karin attempted to drive between her ribs. She still couldn't believe that _Karin, _Ichigo's younger sister, was attacking her. She shouted, "Your twin is Yuzu! Can't you remember?"

Fighting against Sho, Toushirou shouted, "It's useless, Kuchiki! She's under hypnosis!"

Karin's sword jerked at this word. _'Hypnosis…?' _But despite the twinge of doubt his statement had caused in her, she forced herself to focus on the battle against the petite shinigami.

Akito had finally recovered from Zangetsu's attack. Snarling, he jumped towards Ichigo, who was fighting off Ryou.

"Fuck it! I don't care whether you're one of us or not! I'll answer to Hiroshi later!" He drove his rapier towards Ichigo's back. But Akito's lunging movement stopped when Ikkaku blocked him with the blade of his spear, their blades' contact making a clear ringing sound.

With a toothy grin, Ikkaku said rowdily, "Not so fast, you big brat. Didn't anybody teach you that it's rude to interrupt other people's fights?" Face turning serious, Ikkaku continued with a dangerous voice, "Especially by attacking them when their back is turned?" Twisting his grip, Ikkaku separated Houzukimaru into three parts and wrapped the pieces around the point of Akito's rapier in a swift motion.

Meanwhile, Neliel still fought against Hikari, who wielded a staff that could turn any part of its length into a sharp blade. But presently, Hikari was testing out her new, more destructive cero. Unlike the gold of before, the cero this time was colored a poisonous green, and Hikari giggled as she felt a more powerful cero slide out of her fingertip. But her giggle stopped in her throat when Neliel swallowed her cero and returned it as a magenta-tinged Cero Doble. At this unexpected counterattack, Hikari flung up her arms to protect herself. But despite her defense, she was down for the count.

Quickly, Neliel went to help Rukia against Karin. Seeing as how Karin couldn't remember any of them at all, it seemed they had no choice but to take her back to Karakura by force. They could worry about her memory loss later. Neliel traded looks with Rukia. Rukia nodded.

Before Karin knew it, her arms were restrained from behind by a female arrancar. "Wha – "

As Karin struggled to break free from Neliel's grip, Rukia took the chance and speared Sode no Shirayuki into the ground, chanting one of her shikai release's attacks, "Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

Neliel leapt back as Karin was enveloped in a wave of ice. Kyo whirled around, and seeing Karin becoming encased in ice, he yelled, "Karin!"

Abandoning his fight with Izuru and even letting go of his swords, Kyo sprinted towards the chunk of ice that contained Karin. Hikari, Megumi, even Sho were defeated; his comrades fell one by one, but his eyes only saw Karin.

Once he reached the block of ice, Kyo slapped his hands against the glassy surface beyond which he could see Karin's frozen figure. He began to bang his fists on the surface, as if he could break her out of the ice prison if he hit it hard enough. Hoping she could hear him past the barrier, he shouted, "Karin! Break out of there!" He reached out and grabbed the ice with his hands and shook it, barely noticing that he began to freeze into the ice as well.

Not noticing that Rukia's Hakuren was slowly sealing Kyo, Neliel said to the others, "Let's worry about the hypnosis later, and get back to Karakura."

Ichigo looked behind from blocking another one of Ryou's kicks with a wrapped Zangetsu.

"What about Kunieda?"

Annoyed that he had to beat a kid with what he considered 'toys,' no matter how sharp and how numerous they were, Grimmjow said grumpily to Ichigo, "What about her? Just leave her here. We'll be back anyways."

Neliel opened the garganta and the shinigami and Grimmjow piled into it. Ichigo turned and held his hand out to Ryou.

"Come on! Karakura is your hometown! Trust me!"

Ryou hesitantly reached out, but before she could grasp Ichigo's hand, Hiroshi came with reinforcements.

Glancing at the new arrivals, Ichigo urged her, "Quickly!"

"Don't!" Hiroshi ordered. On reflex, Ryou withdrew her hand at the command.

Rukia cried out, "Don't believe him!"

But by then, it was too late. As the garganta closed behind them, they left Ryou standing amongst her defeated companions and the furious Hiroshi.

…

***Yes! Kunieda Ryou is a canon character from early on in Bleach. ^.^v Bet you didn't even recall her character, much less her name. Check out Bleach chapter 26.**

**Now that you know, can you guess which other character from Team Exile is canon?**

…

It was only when they arrived back in Urahara's basement that they realized that Kyo had frozen to the block of ice as well.

"Well, that's hardly ideal." Renji commented.

Ichigo asked, "Why the hell couldn't she recognize us and call off her friends?"

Crossing his arms Toushirou replied, "She was under Aizen's hypnosis. She probably couldn't recall anything."

"But why did she call _him_ her brother! Her twin, even?" Ichigo exclaimed, pointing at Kyo's prone form. He seemed indignant that Karin could think of anybody else as her brother. "She forgot about me and Yuzu! It's like they _brainwashed _her!"

"Well, Aizen wields _total_ hypnosis. Back when he left Soul Society, he didn't have powers over memories, but he might have developed his zanpakutou further..." Shuuhei trailed off.

"Well...at least we brought your sister back." Izuru said, miserably failing at his attempt to keep his tone cheery.

"More like _kidnapped_." Yumichika said ironically. All the shinigami lapsed into silence, sighing either outwardly or inwardly at the paradox that someone had to be 'abducted' back home.

Staring at the boy trapped within the ice, Neliel voiced what everyone was thinking. "He looks eerily similar to Karin, doesn't he?" She turned towards Ichigo. "You don't happen to have a little brother who got lost when he was an infant, do you?"

"What? No!" Ichigo yelped.

Ikkaku examined the piece of ice as close as he could without getting frozen into it himself. "Yeah. He looks even more like your younger sister than you do, Ichigo."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Keh." He switched subjects and called to Rukia. "Oi! Will you release Karin already?"

"Are you sure? Her supposed 'twin brother' will be released as well if I do."

Izuru reasoned, "We can just keep him asleep using a kidou spell."

Rukia conceded this fact and resealed her zanpakutou. As soon as Sode no Shirayuki's hilt clicked against its sheath, the ice began to crack.

Then, the ice abruptly shattered, depositing the two humans onto the ground. As Izuru cast a sleep kidou spell over Kyo, Toushirou went over to Karin and tentatively picked her up, holding her in his arms.

She felt cold, as if she were dead. But he could feel her reiatsu like he felt his own heartbeat.

Gathering Karin to his chest, Toushirou stood up. Ichigo hoisted Kyo over his shoulder as well. They turned to go, Rukia and Renji behind them. Neliel asked, "Where are you going?"

Renji informed her, "Back to Ichigo's house. So we can show Ichigo's father and twin that she's safe."

"If you can count her _not recognizing us_ as 'safe.'" Ichigo muttered darkly. "She called _him_," he shot a dirty look at the boy on his shoulder and hefted him up to adjust his grip, "her brother _and _twin." He couldn't seem to get over the fact that Karin had replaced both him and Yuzu with Kyo.

Izuru questioned, "Why the need to take him along as well? Surely you can just leave him here with us, where he'll have more people to supervise him."

Ichigo scratched his chin, looking a little embarrassed. "Well… I want to ask my dad whether he really _is_ my long lost younger brother."

There was a stunned silence after this admission.

Renji added more reasonably, "Anyways, there are plenty of shinigami to guard him over there. And we want to examine his memories, and the only cellphone that is equipped for that is over at the clinic."

Toushirou turned to Rangiku, and asked a question he had a feeling he already knew the answer to. "You coming, Matsumoto?"

Matsumoto shook her head a little too quickly. Toushirou had to keep himself from narrowing his eyes at this reaction. He turned away, but said to her over his shoulder, "Don't worry yourself too much."

Shuuhei cast Rangiku a glance, filled with sympathy and worry all at once. Rangiku wore a downcast face. _'Taichou… if only you knew…' _If only he knew… he wouldn't tell her to do such an impossible thing.

With that, the four shinigami left, carrying Karin and what _looked_ like a human.

…

Yuzu gasped when Toushirou brought in Karin. She ran forward, unable to believe her eyes. With trembling hands, she reached out to touch her twin. Once her hands contacted Karin's clammy skin, she pulled her hand back immediately, from the chill she felt. Face full of dread, Yuzu whispered, "Is she… dead…?"

Toushirou shook his head as he walked to Karin and Yuzu's room. Rukia answered more specifically, "She won't be awake for a while, though. Right now she's… hibernating."

Yuzu was too relieved to be confused at the odd term that Rukia used.

It was only after Karin was gently placed on her own bed that Yuzu noticed the boy on Ichigo's shoulder.

"Onii-chan… Who's that?"

Without bothering to keep the disgruntled look off of his face, Ichigo said shortly, "Found him with Karin."

It wasn't exactly a lie. Ichigo tromped up the stairs to his own room and deposited Kyo on the floor without a care for his wounds.

"Rukia, bind this guy with a kidou spell." Ichigo said.

Ichigo promptly went to his dad's bedroom and opened it. "Oyaji!"

His dad was lying sideways on his wide king-sized bed, back to the door.

"Didn't I teach you to knock before you barge into people's rooms?" Isshin said lazily.

"You're the one who didn't come out to greet us even when you felt Karin's spiritual energy outside." Ichigo retorted in kind. Growing more serious, Ichigo asked, "Dad…"

Hearing the change in both tone and address, Isshin turned around. "What?"

There was a heavy silence. Isshin began to sweat in nervousness. Had he done something wrong? Anything that annoyed his son? That couldn't be – Ichigo had only just returned… Was not going out to greet him that big of an offense? He had, after all, probably gone through a lot of trouble to recover Karin –

"Do I have a younger brother!" Ichigo finally managed.

This completely unexpected question caught Isshin off guard. "B… brother?" Isshin spluttered. Recovering, Isshin yelled, "Of course you don't!"

Filled to the brim with the tirade he had prepared for his dad in the case his dad had said 'yes,' Ichigo deflated like a balloon being squeezed out.

"I… I don't?"

Bewildered, Isshin asked, "Why on earth does that come as a surprise to you?"

Ignoring his father, Ichigo slumped away, leaving a thoroughly confused Isshin.

"Did he meet a doppelganger or something?"

…

When Kyo finally awoke, he was in a small room with a bed, desk, and not much else. And though he saw no visible bindings on his body, he felt like he was all tied up.

"What is this?"

The orange-haired shinigami poked his head into the room. "Awake now, are you?"

When he stepped fully into the room, Kyo saw that he wore queer clothes, with a red top and black pants that seemed tight fitted compared to the hakama he wore earlier. Kyo glared at him.

"Where have you taken me? Where's Karin?"

"Sorry, but _we're_ asking the questions here." A red-haired shinigami with tattooed eyebrows said over the carrot-top's shoulder.

The orange-haired shinigami advanced upon Kyo with a rather menacing look on his face, followed by the red-haired shinigami, small black-haired shinigami, and last, the white-haired shinigami.

Plopping into a cross-legged position on the floor, the orange-haired man asked dangerously, "Who are you, and how do you know my sister?"

"Your sister?" Kyo asked, curious despite himself. "Do you mean Ryou, Megumi… or Hikari?"

"You know very well who I mean." was the growled response.

Kyo let out a short, humorless laugh. "You can't mean Karin."

The orange-haired shinigami looked Kyo straight in the eyes, and said, "Do you know my name?"

Mutely, Kyo shook his head.

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

Kyo frowned, certain that his ears had deceived him. "Sorry? What did you say your name was? I could have sworn I heard you say 'Kurosaki.'"

"You heard right."

That was the last straw. Struggling against the binding, Kyo said, "Having the same surname doesn't make you Karin's older brother! By your logic, then I'd be your younger brother as well! But Karin and I grew up in a village together!"

Ichigo leapt to his feet at this. "That's ridiculous!" He picked up the family picture on top his beside table and shoved it into Kyo's face. Pointing at the younger image of Karin, Ichigo yelled, "Look! This is proof! Proof that we grew up under the same roof! What do you have to prove that Karin is your younger sister?"

Still struggling against his bindings Kyo shouted, "I don't need proof! I have my memories! That's all I need to know that Karin's my sister! And Karin knows it too! Where is she?"

Toushirou grabbed Kyo's face. "Sorry, but you'll have to sleep for now." Kyo slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Kuchiki."

Understanding the implicit command in the 10th division captain's voice, Rukia quickly got the cellphone used to examine memories.

Just as they started to extract Kyo's memories, the door banged open.

"What with all the commotion?"

The voice belonged to Isshin. His eyes moved from Rukia, who stood crouched over a cellphone, to the boy on the floor.

He strode over to the boy, and rolled him over. He took one look at the boy's face and put his face in his hands. "Is this why you asked me that nonsensical question?"

Raising his head, Isshin asked, "Let's have it. What happened?"

…

Karin's eyes fluttered open. She lay on a bed that felt warm, cozy, and smelled familia-

She abruptly sat up and looked around. Rolling off of the bed, she went to open the door. But before she could, the door swung open and a girl entered. Her eyes lit up with joy, and she exclaimed, "Karin-chan!" and hugged her.

It took a moment for Karin to realize that this was the girl that she saw in one of her dreams.

"W-who… are you?" Karin stuttered.

Yuzu released Karin. Karin saw that her eyes were filled with hurt, an expression that made her regret her words immediately.

"Karin-chan?"

Staring at Karin with her brown eyes filled with disbelief, Yuzu forced a smile. "That's not a very funny joke, Karin-chan. I've been so worried about you – "

Karin had no choice but to risk saying something she knew would further hurt the girl. "Why? I don't know you."

Yuzu grew desperate. "What do you mean you don't know me? I'm Yuzu, your twin!"

When Karin shook her head, Yuzu bit her lip, holding back tears.

She stood there in front of an apologetic Karin, breathing heavily, for several minutes. Finally gaining the upper hand of her emotions, she headed out of the room and up the stairs. About to barge into her older brother's room, when she heard voices through the door.

" – Kurosaki Kyo – "

" – he claims that he's Karin's twin – "

Hand halfway to the doorknob, Yuzu froze at this.

" – that's why I thought – "

" – anyways, let's just watch the memory – "

Watch the memory? Yuzu thought. Maybe she heard wrong…

" – we'll find out for sure whether he's lying – "

" – or deluded – "

" – the memory won't play deluded things – "

She hadn't.

Then she heard faint sounds of Karin's voice. As if it were playing from a tape. Trembling, Yuzu, turned the doorknob and silently eased the door open.

"The sound quality isn't very good, it it. Must be because it's old." Renji commented.

"_Kyo!" _A younger Karin called out, waving and running. She wore a brown yukata that flapped with every leap.  
"_Wait up!" _A boyish voice said. And in a louder and more echoey way, the voice added, _'Dang, she's gotten really fast …'_

The screen moved, as if running after Karin, who was bobbing ahead of the screen. It was like watching a movie from first person point of view.

All the occupants of the room watched the video so intently that they didn't even notice Yuzu's presence behind them.

When the scene continued without much more meat to it, Rukia sighed and pressed a button on the cellphone in her hand and the screen sped up, like a video on fast-forward. She pressed another button and the scene started playing at regular speed again.

The screen showed a slightly older Karin holding a red sword in each hand. Two black swords were in sight as well, as if the cameraman were holding them; but that couldn't be possible. You had to use a hand to hold a camera, right?

"_You think you can beat me?" _It was the boyish voice again, though it sounded huskier and deeper this time.  
Onscreen, Karin laughed while swinging her swords. _"Think? I _know_ I can!"_  
"_Oh?" _The black swords whirled more quickly through the air, so fast that Yuzu couldn't follow them. _'How about this, eh, Karin?' _Again with the loud, echoing voice.

Ichigo slammed his fists against the floor. "I don't get it! _How_ is Karin in his memory?" He asked Rukia, "Are you _sure_ that this camera thing doesn't play delusions?"

"It's called a _*kakukai_." Rukia informed him sternly. "And yes, I'm sure. It seems that these really _are_ his memories. You can't deceive the kakukai."

***kakukai = memory device**

Yuzu struggled to rationalize what she was seeing right now. Her mind raced.

That was it, Yuzu thought, both hands clenched in front of her heart. Karin had gone into acting, was all. She had disappeared for over a week just to shoot this movie. They had used computer graphics to make her look younger, was all. The handless camera? It could be a looxcie, for all she knew. A camera hooked over the ear, or attached to the head of the cameraman, allowing the cameraman move his hands freely.

"_What are you doing?"_  
The 'camera' turned around quickly to focus on the group of people that eyed both the 'cameraman' and Karin with… fear.  
_'…the villagers?' _It was the echoey voice Yuzu had come to refer to as the 'thought voice.  
"_How did you come to possess those swords?" _An old man spoke, using the same sharp tone as before.  
The screen swung to show Karin again, her crimson swords were evaporating into thin air.

_'No! That's just CG!' _Yuzu berated herself.

She returned to rationalizing the 'video.' The bewildered expressions of her brother and his friends? That was because they didn't know Karin had been involved in the movie either, Yuzu reasoned. They had mentioned the word 'Memory?' That must be the movie's name.

But Yuzu's body and heart didn't agree with her thoughts. Cold sweat dripped down her neck, and her heart beat erratically.

The only subject that her whole family – starting four years ago – carefully avoided was anything to do with the spiritual. But it didn't look like it had to do ghosts either. This all looked too real; anyhow, ghosts couldn't be captured on screen.

But as she saw the owner of her favorite candyshop in his trademark black cape and green and white hat attack Karin, she let out a gasp, and lost her hold on the door.

Everybody turned swiftly.

The door creaked open, revealing Yuzu standing at the doorway, dumbstruck.

...

...

A/N: Dundundun... I wonder how they'll explain their way through this one...


	28. Re:Second Encounter

**Chapter 28: Re:Second Encounter**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Pray/hope for the best in Japan. :'[ I wish to Japan a speedy recovery, and respect them for their unity in this time of crisis.

…

**Chapter 28**

Re:The Second Encounter

…

All was silent, except for the now faint sounds of the still playing memory that nobody paid any attention to.

Renji sighed and his forehead hit his palm. "Cat's out of the bag, I guess."

Both men of the Kurosaki household stood up and reached out. But before they could touch her, Yuzu said shakily, "Don't. Touch. Me."

Her father and brother blanched. It was the first time Yuzu had said such a thing. When she finally looked up at them, her eyes were filled with a fury they had never seen before.

"First Karin doesn't remember me… and now this?"

It looked like it was turning out to be a trying day of many first times for the Kurosaki family.

…

Meanwhile, Karin was downstairs, looking around suspiciously. She looked cautiously at the glossy pictures on the walls (especially one of a woman that covered a whole wall for itself with the caption 'Masaki Love' with hearts all around it). Last thing she remembered, the traitor arrancar had grabbed her from behind with unholy strength, causing her to be trapped by the black-haired shinigami's ice attack. She had been kidnapped. That she knew.

But the other things, she didn't understand at all. Like why she hadn't woken to any restraints whatsoever. She was a prisoner, wasn't she? And what about the sweet girl who had hugged her? Though she looked older in real life, Karin had definitely seen her in the dreams. She had called her 'Karin-chan' in the dream too. Why was the girl here? Were the dreams really a part of her memories?

The machine would have eventually gotten around to the dreams, Karin decided. First things first, though, she had to escape.

Turning her head cautiously, she saw that to her left there was something akin to the kitchen back in Las Noches, only smaller. Right outside it, a table, with a curious flat black screen to the side. To her right, a narrow hallway, leading to stairs that turned right and out of sight. Across from her, there was a door with a sign that read 'Kurosaki Clinic.'

There wasn't anybody guarding her in sight, but it couldn't hurt to be too careful. So Karin suppressed her spiritual energy as much as possible (which made her pretty damn near spiritually invisible), and crept out the front door.

As soon as Karin stepped outside, a dazzling light hit her eyes, making her wince. "Ugh..." She had seen sunlight in her memories, but the sun seemed brighter in real life. Maybe it was because she had become accustomed to Hueco Mundo's perpetual night.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the brightness, she took a look around.

It looked just like her spirit world.

…

"What have you been hiding?" Yuzu asked in a deceptively quiet voice.

When there was no answer, Yuzu raised her voice about fifty decibels.

"_What_ have you been hiding from me? I know you've all been hiding something from me since Karin first disappeared! Longer, even!"

Still Isshin and Ichigo were too stunned to respond.

Yuzu began to shout, "Did you think I wouldn't notice? So called 'college friends!' Karin's disappearance, and serial murders everywhere!" Her yelling elevated several pitches higher, turning into screaming. "Do you think I'm that stupid? That I'm blind?" Too angry to cry, she balled her fists.

Seeing that the Kurosaki men were still dumb as oysters, Toushirou took initiative. He made his trademark motion to put his hands in his sleeves, only to discover to his annoyance that he had his gigai on. Settling for crossing his arms, he asked, "How much do you know about spirits?"

Slightly unclenching her fists, Yuzu asked, "You mean ghosts?"

Taking Toushirou's silence to mean yes, she answered, "I know that Onii-chan and Karin-chan can see them…"

"Are you aware that your father can see them as well?"

At this the Kurosaki family started; Yuzu because she had no idea, Isshin and Ichigo because they realized that Toushirou was about to tell Yuzu the whole, undecorated truth.

"Wait – " Ichigo was about to protest, but quelled by a deadly glare from Yuzu. Isshin resignedly placed a hand on his son's shoulder, shaking his head.

Taking this as a sign of consent, no matter how reluctant, Toushirou turned back to Yuzu, who pleaded, "Tell me more. Toushirou-kun."

Toushirou silently gauged the girl, wondering if what he was about to do was right. He thought of Karin downstairs, and took a breath.

"How much do you know about hollows?"

Yuzu was clearly lost. "Hollow? As in the English word for 'empty?'"

'_Good god… What __**does**__ she know?'_ Resisting the urge to bang his head against the wall repeatedly, Toushirou sighed.

"…Sit down…" he advised Yuzu.

This was going to take a long time.

…

Karin blinked.

She stood in a replica of her spirit world, exactly the same, right from the ground under her feet to the structures sprouting up from it.

It was real, unless she had somehow slipped into meditation state without noticing. She briefly thought about pinching herself, before she remembered that she could feel pain even in her spirit world.

Slapping her cheeks nonetheless, she flash stepped to the top of a roof, where she could see the structures properly. Like her spirit world, it was a mass of large, sturdy looking huts – except for some especially tall structures. Between the structures, there were some paths, with four-wheeled vehicles moving at extremely fast speeds along them. A widespread structure off several blocks away caught her attention; many kids around her age wearing gray clothes were swarming there like ants up an anthill.

Curious, she followed them, leaping from roof to roof.

Seta saw someone dressed in white on the roofs. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things. Maybe the soccer practice sessions were taking their toll, except on his mind instead of on his body. But no matter how much he rubbed, the white figure still stood there on the roof.

"Hey!" he called out. "It's dangerous up there!"

The figure turned to him, and he thought that she looked somewhat familiar. Almost like… _'It can't be…'_

But it was. "Kurosaki?"

He blinked and the Karin-look-alike was gone. Seta shook his head out like a wet dog. If he was tired enough to hallucinate, he really needed to lay off on the energy drinks, and then talk to the coach about decreasing the intensity and length of their training sessions…

"How do you know me?" Karin's voice questioned from somewhere nearby.

Nearly jumping out of his skin, Seta turned around. Somehow, Karin had reappeared behind him. _'How did she do that?' _he wondered, bewildered.

Her face peered closely at him, almost nose to nose. "Do I know you?"

Seta's bafflement only increased at this question. _'And what is she talking about?' _He forced a laugh, trying to shake it off as her idea of a joke. But her sense of humor had obviously changed, and in a bad way. He resumed walking to school.

"All members of the soccer team are worried about you, Kurosaki. I mean, the whole school has given you up for dead. They'll be ecstatic to see you safe. What happened?" He gave her outfit a one over. "And on a lesser scale of a question, what happened to your uniform? You're going to school today, right? What about Yuzu?"

Karin didn't answer. Because she honestly didn't know. None of the questions the boy was asking her made any sense. Soccer team? What was soccer? School? When did she ever go to a school? Uniform? Yuzu? Was he talking about the girl from earlier, who had claimed to be her twin?

Seta waited for the answers to his questions, but none came. He shrugged. She probably didn't want to talk about it, he assumed. And she was always been on the borderline on breaking the school rules for the school uniform. But she wasn't even wearing a backpack. Had she been kidnapped on the way back from school and lost it? And he understood about her not wanting to answer what had happened to her while she had been missing, but why wasn't she answering the question about her twin?

These questions flew about in Seta's head, but didn't quite make it out of his mouth. So they walked in silence. Suddenly, Karin asked, "Hey. Where are we going?"

At this question, Seta gave her an odd look. After a long, uncomfortable silence, he asked, "Uhm. You're joking, right? Your sense of humor has gone awry while you've been gone."

Karin considered telling him that since she didn't remember him _or _this world in general, he must be talking about a doppelganger coincidentally with the same name as her… but she knew that he wouldn't believe her. Hell, _she_ wouldn't believe her if she were in the boy's shoes.

Even now, she wasn't entirely sure she _did_. Things were getting more and more confusing. But it seemed like this boy could give her some answers – though not directly, of course.

"So…" She took a look at him and deemed him a little older than her. "…Senpai, just what was I like before I disappeared?" As soon as the words had left her mouth, Karin suppressed a wince; that hadn't sounded very subtle. She was fishing for any traits of this doppelganger – if it was indeed her doppelganger.

He shot her another dubious look. "Is that a trick question?"

Trying to look nonchalant and failing miserably, Karin shrugged, "Uh… Just wanted to know what you thought about… me."

The looks he gave her were steadily getting weirder and weirder. "Uhhhh…" Seta managed. _'Isn't that what you're supposed to ask Hiko?'_ He swallowed nervously, and said cautiously, taking care not to say anything that would make her get wrong ideas lest Hiko throttle him later, "Athletic? Strong… you don't care about what people think of how you dress, and you're not as sensitive as other girls…" As he saw Karin furrow her brow, he supplied hastily, "In a good way, of course!" Thinking that an inadequate response, he added, "And kind of attractive, I guess?"_'in a boyish kind of way… Aw man, Hiko's going to kill me…'_

Ignoring the last comment (phrased as a question), Karin thought about the prior traits he had listed. Contrary to what Seta thought, Karin hadn't frowned because she had thought he was implying that she was insensitive; it was because all the traits he had used to describe her supposed doppelganger sounded like traits describing _herself._ She was beginning to doubt her doppelganger theory more and more… unless doppelgangers also had similar personality traits… had her doppelganger grown up in a similar environment to her, to also possess a similar personality?

Determined to discover more about this 'other Karin,' she asked another question. "How long was I gone?"

Seta now stared at her in outright disbelief. "Kurosaki… are you okay?" Burying his hands in his pockets, he amended, "Well, you were kidnapped, so I suppose it's not impossible to lose track of the days, but gee…"

Karin nervously nodded and took the risk to say, "It's because I honestly don't remember." Thankfully, her semi-honesty seemed to convince him, and the boy answered, "Almost two weeks."

Karin thought back to the day she had first awakened in Las Noches, when she had lost her memories. It counted up to a week. She couldn't be sure with her incomplete memories, but it approximately matched with the timeline of when she was driven out from her village, give or take a few days.

Her thoughts were interrupted. "By the way, Kurosaki, how's Hitsugaya doing? He's not coming to school or soccer practice any more."

Karin asked without thinking, "Who?"

Seta was beginning to think Karin was displaying symptoms of an extremely early onset of dementia. Or her hearing ability had severely diminished. Hadn't the two been going out? "Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya Toushirou." He said slowly, as if addressing a child with autism. "The white-haired kid."

The name sounded disturbingly familiar to Karin. _'Toushirou…'_

**Flashback**

"_Who's Toushirou?" Kyo asked._

"_Huh? Toushirou? Who's that?" Karin frowned. "What a weird name."_

**Flashback End**

Karin recalled when she had first seen the white-haired shinigami. How she'd cried without even knowing why.

Abruptly, Karin halted.

It all fit together. The brief flashes of people and things she had seen. How everybody here knew her. The discrepancy and the unfamiliarity of the memories the machine showed her. Her dreams. Why this place was her spirit world realized. And the constant feeling of familiarity once she had encountered the shinigami…

She couldn't see why she hadn't pieced it together earlier.

"Kurosaki?"

Seta's call fell on deaf ears as Karin began to run, her feet taking her to some place she didn't know. Or, as Karin realized now, didn't remember.

…

Once Toushirou had finished telling her everything, Yuzu sat without saying anything for the longest time.

The shinigami glanced uneasily at each other. Had they just pulled in an innocent bystander into the war between Aizen and Soul Society? If Yuzu were anything like the rest of her family, she wouldn't be able to sit by and do nothing.

But Yuzu was now gazing at the unconscious boy.

"So he's the boy named Kyo?" Yuzu finally asked.

She went over to him and gently turned him over, so she could see his face properly. Her face softened as she took in his similarity of his features with Karin's. "He looks more like Karin than I do." she noted with a watery chuckle.

The shinigami were at a loss for words at her reaction. Without looking up, Yuzu addressed the other shinigami. "Can we wake him up?"

Renji asked her, "What are you going to say to him if we do?"

Dropping her head down further to look at the floor, Yuzu admitted, "I don't know."

Rukia nudged Ichigo hard in the ribs. ("Ow! What was that for?" was said in a whisper) Rukia glared at Ichigo, as if to telling him to do something. Finally understanding, Ichigo said, "I'm sorry, Yuzu."

Yuzu, who still hadn't forgiven Ichigo – or Isshin for that matter – didn't turn towards her older brother to acknowledge his apology. Ichigo in turn, prodded his father. Shooting his son an 'I know!' kind of look, Isshin started to say, "It was for – "

"Don't say it was 'for my own good,' Daddy. That's just a bad excuse a parent gives to a child after doing something horrible to them."

Stupidly, Isshin closed his mouth and swallowed the rest of his sentence, as that was exactly what he had been about to say.

After a moment, Yuzu stood up and declared, "I'm going to check up on Karin-chan."

Toushirou was tempted to go with her, but he refrained. He didn't think he could endure Karin's eyes staring at him again, lacking any sort of emotion whatsoever.

But shortly after Yuzu had exited the room, they heard a cry. Immediately, Isshin and Ichigo barreled downstairs, Toushirou right behind them. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found the door to Karin's and Yuzu's room ajar.

Karin was gone.

Toushirou couldn't believe it. They had just found her. Just managed to bring her back.

Furious, Ichigo voiced those very same thoughts. "WHAT! We JUST found her and BARELY managed to take her back, and because not ONE out of FOUR," glaring at his dad, he corrected himself, "no, FIVE shinigami, bothered to stay on the lookout for her reiatsu, she's DISAPPEARED?"

Well, no need to add the extra copper to the dime. Ichigo had said it all. Breaking the silence that followed Ichigo's tirade, Toushirou spoke clearly. "Kurosaki," both the Kurosaki men turned their heads. He was forced to clarify, "Kurosaki Ichigo, and Kurosaki Isshin…san" He stumbled over the honorific; he didn't know why, but the head of the Kurosaki household was the one man he couldn't refer to without it.

"Let's split up and look for Karin. When one of us finds Karin, we send up a burst of spiritual energy. Agreed?" He turned to the other shinigami behind him. "Kuchiki, you stay to watch over the kid upstairs."

Without pausing to see whether Rukia obeyed his commands or not, he headed out.

Toushirou had managed to maintain his calm façade in front of the others, but it was just that: a façade. Behind his cool mask, he was panicking, worried about a million things. Worried that Karin had run away from them all, that she had willingly gone back to Hueco Mundo, or that she had been kidnapped once again; no mater how unlikely the scenario, it stuck to his mind like the plague.

Though he knew with his mind that he had no need to worry about her safety because she was so strong, again, his heart didn't agree.

Closing his eyes, he tried to pinpoint Karin's reiatsu. But it was in vain. Either she had gone back to Hueco Mundo, or she had gotten better at hiding her reiatsu when they had first met. Toushirou desperately hoped it was the latter.

Where would a girl with no memories go?

He knew where a Karin _with_ her memories would go if she was in turmoil…

It was a slim chance, but there was nowhere else he could try.

…

Karin looked around in wonder. Even in her memories, she had never seen a forest before. She suddenly frowned at the thought. _If_ they were her real memories. Though she had never remembered seeing this forest, much less _any _forest, it still felt oddly familiar. Absently sitting down at the base of a nearby tree, Karin tried to think.

It was hers and Kyo's word against everyone else's.

They were outnumbered, and it was sure as hell easier to rewrite the memories of two kids than the numerous citizens of this large village.

She shook her head, trying to shake out the doubts. Kyo was her rock, the one solid thing in her life. Even if she couldn't trust herself, she could trust Kyo.

At least, that was what she had thought before.

But the shadow of doubt loomed ever larger, clinging to her like a parasite; draining her. Was Kyo truly her brother? Had he been lying to her all this time, pretending to be her brother, showing her false brotherly affection? Had it all been lies? Had _anything_ he had done for her been genuine at all?

Karin wanted to cry, but no tears came. Then she felt a water droplet hit her cheek. The sky seemed to be crying for her instead.

She felt a strange sense of déjà vu at the raindrops that fell down harder, until it was pouring.

Had this been in a dream? Was this the place where she had felt such deep despair?

Despite herself, Karin snorted. If she had chosen this place as a refuge before, of course she would choose this very place to throw herself in such abject misery this time around as well.

"There you are."

The husky voice startled Karin, and she turned around. Had she leaked her spiritual pressure without being aware of it?

Reading her face expression, the white-haired shinigami said, "No, you hid your reiatsu just fine. So much that it was a bitch to find you. But I took a gamble and hit jackpot, I guess."

Sullenly, Karin asked, "What do you want? Come to take me back?"

Toushirou had no idea how such a simple question, like what he wanted, could come to have such a complex answer. And he had no idea how to answer it either. So he just settled for answering the latter, easier question with a short "no" and went over to a tree near hers, ignoring the squelching sound the mud made as he sat at the foot of the tree. Remembering the signal he had agreed on with the other shinigami once one of them had found Karin, he sent up a brief flare of spiritual energy. As expected, Karin had grown so powerful that she didn't bat an eye at this impressive display of spiritual pressure.

For a moment, only the rain was audible. Exhaling and leaning back against the tree, Toushirou commented, "We first met at this place, you know?"

Another long bout of silence. "…shirou…" Karin murmured.

Toushirou froze.

"Toushirou… Is that your name?"

The tenth division captain didn't dare hope that she'd remembered anything. Instead, Toushirou looked up at the sky and focused on the rain, and how he was drenched to the bone when it had been less than five minutes since he left the house.

"What was I like?" It was the second time Karin had asked the question that day. Except this time, she directed the question to someone who _knew_ that she had lost her memories. "The Kurosaki Karin in your memories."

The implication of these two statements - that she had finally realized her memories were fake – made Toushirou looked at her. Karin was staring intently at him, her onyx eyes still without any signs of recognizing him, but at least now trying. Her face shone with determination.

Even in the rain, she still glowed brightly like -

"Like fire." He said simply.

Fire. Dangerous, but vibrant and entrancing all the same. To Toushirou, Karin was the most beautiful creature in all three dimensions, whether she had her memories or not.

Fire. Karin found this single word intriguing; it was so much shorter, yet so much more illuminating than all the things that the senpai from earlier had used to describe her.

'_And you, with your white hair, blue eyes, demeanor, and even the name _winter lion_… are like ice… Toushirou.'_ Karin thought. Toushirou seemed to understand what she was thinking, because the corner of his lips twisted up ever so slightly.

They gazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity; Karin lost in his blue eyes, and he lost in her unique features.

Finally tearing her eyes away from his, Karin's gaze moved up to Toushirou's silver hair. Attempting levity in the heaviness in the air, she raised an eyebrow and commented, "You know, that white hair of yours looks like you shaved it off of an old man head and made it into a wig."

So much for the serious atmosphere. Too emotionally weary to be annoyed, Toushirou replied dryly, "Is that so?"

"But somehow, it suits you." Karin shrugged.

Toushirou didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't very well say 'black hair suits you too,' because black was a common hair color.

Rain continued to pound down on them for a few more minutes before Toushirou hesitated and said, "The boy is at your house."

Slowly, Karin turned her head. "Who?"

"The one that claims to be your brother."

"Kyo?" she whispered. She grabbed Toushirou's shoulders. "Kyo's here? How…?" Remembering her doubts about Kyo, Karin withdrew her hands from Toushirou's shoulders.

He wasn't positive through the rain, but Toushirou thought he saw Karin's face turn ashen. "When he saw that you were frozen in the ice, he grabbed onto the ice and got frozen as well."

At this, Karin's face regained some of its color, and she suddenly dashed off. _'Does he care about me after all?'_

Toushirou chased after her about three hundred meters later, he managed to grasp her wrist and whirl her around.

"Where are you going?"

Losing her patience, she snapped at him, "To Kyo, of course! I need to see him now!"

Toushirou couldn't believe Karin could prioritize her make-believe brother before her memories. Especially now that she had realized that the ones she had now were fake. Squashing this annoyance (which felt suspiciously like jealousy) Toushirou informed Karin flatly, "Then that's the wrong direction. Your house is this way." He pointed over his shoulder, in the opposite direction.

Karin reddened; she _knew _she was bad at directions. It was a miracle she had managed to find the forest at all when she hadn't even remembered it. Maybe her even-lower-than-crustacean sense of direction had been a recent development. Then she looked down at her wrist still within Toushirou's hold. Noticing this too, Toushirou reluctantly let go.

Then Toushirou also noticed something else. Looking away, he shed his own jacket and held it out for Karin to take.

She blinked at Toushirou and at the jacket. "What's this for? I'm not cold. Besides, it's wet already."

'_This is the second time! Granted, she doesn't remember the first… but why is she so dense? Is she like this around other guys too?_' Heaving a sigh and sending up a prayer to the heavens (which was odd considering he was a shinigami) Toushirou carefully kept his head turned away and blindly groped around for Karin's hand, and upon finding it, shoved the jacket into her fingers. "R-rain. Clothes." Damnit. Why did he have to stutter and not be able to string two words properly?

As she realized that her underwear showed through her drenched, white clothes, Karin felt her cheeks burn. Karin barely kept herself from tearing the jacket from his fingers and fought to stay calm. Shrugging off the feeling that something similar had happened before, she swung the jacket over her shoulders. _'Think on the bright side of things. At least he's a gentleman about it.'_

By the time they had returned to the Kurosaki residence, all the other shinigami were waiting for them at the table.

Yuzu greeted Karin by throwing her arms around her and sobbing, "Don't _ever_ scare me like that again, Karin-chan!"

Despite not remembering her, Karin awkwardly patted her on the back, while she swept her spiritual sense around the house for Kyo.

She couldn't feel him. Had Toushirou lied…?

But before Karin could ask where Kyo was, she was whisked off by Yuzu to get her changed out of her wet clothes.

After a hot shower and many minutes of dress up later, Karin was staring in the mirror. And staring. And staring. She didn't know what era this was from, but she thought it better not to ask. asked Yuzu dully, "Uhm. Are you sure you were the one to pick out my outfits?" She was dressed in a frilly dress, straw hat in hand. _'Because I don't think I could stand walking around in these all day…' _Apparently this unvoiced thought showed through on Karin's face, because Yuzu pouted.

"Your regular clothes are in that drawer." She pointed at the top drawer of a dresser, and sighed. "Well, that's one less advantage I get to take over your amnesia."

'_Advantage?'_ Karin thought nervously as she pulled on a more normal looking shirt and warm drawstring pants. Yuzu seemed to have come to look on the brighter side of things (namely Karin losing her memory).

"So where's Ky-"

Ignoring what her twin was about to say, Yuzu dragged Karin out to the living room. She hurriedly sat Karin down beside the other shinigami at the table and scampered into the kitchen, calling out, "I'll make some tea! What would you like?"

There was a long silence. Was this really a girl who had just discovered that her whole family had been keeping secrets from her for the last month? But there was too much rattling in the kitchen, as if she were purposely keeping herself busy from her thoughts.

Well. People coped in different ways. Knowing this was Yuzu's way of coping, Isshin first volunteered, "Lemon tea."

Slamming a cup of a scalding mysterious substance in front of him, Yuzu said sharply, "No. Daddy gets bitterroot tea."

Not only different ways of coping… but also venting their anger.

Renji nervously raised his hand. "Uh, I'm fine with just hot water?" Eying Isshin's profusely steaming cup, he hastily added, "Only not as hot…"

In a sweet voice that was 180 degrees different from what she had addressed her father with, Yuzu assured Renji, "Oh no, hot water won't do for a guest. I can make lemon tea, pear tea, green tea – "

Gaining confidence, Renji said, "Oh, then I'll go with pear tea."

Rukia too, opted for a pear tea, while Ichigo refrained from ordering completely, lest he end up with tea like his father.

Yuzu handed Toushirou his green tea, and turned to Karin. "Karin-chan?"

Waving aside the offer for tea, Karin asked the question she had tried to ask about twenty times, starting from thirty minutes ago when she had first been dragged off to take a shower. "Where's Kyo?"

Everybody, save for Toushirou, choked on their cups of tea (though perhaps Isshin choked on his because it was so bitter).

In contrast, Toushirou sipped at his green tea calmly and replied, "We sent him over to Urahara's while Yuzu was distracting you."

Karin banged her fists against the table, and again, everybody save for Toushirou (and Ichigo, who had no teacup at all), had to scramble to save their teacups from losing their contents and being dashed completely to pieces on the ground.

She hissed, "What? Urahara Kisuke?" She stood abruptly, making for the door. But Renji held her back and Ichigo stood between her and the door. Karin saw that she was outnumbered, and gritting her teeth, decided to try track down Kyo's spiritual pressure instead.

As if she knew what Karin was doing, Rukia said, "It's useless."

Renji added, "Yeah. Urahara-san probably has something that can erase any traces of reiatsu."

Karin became desperate. Shaking Renji loose, she grabbed the collar of Ichigo's shirt. "Don't you have any idea who – _what_ – that man _is_?"

Isshin got up as well. "We do, actually. But do _you_?"

"Of course I – " then Karin realized that if her memories were fake, what she knew about Urahara Kisuke must also be false.

As she loosened her hold on Ichigo, Toushirou said crisply, "We'll have to get your memories back as soon as possible."

Now if only they knew how.

…

Urahara Kisuke examined the boy before him, struggling against his bindings. At first, second, and third sight, this boy was a human.

'_Kurosaki Kyo, eh…'_ And he looked like Kurosaki Karin, to boot.

"What do you want with me?" Kyo snarled. "First you chase Karin and me out, now you've captured us? Make up your mind already!"

If Urahara hadn't played through the kakukai, he would have had no idea what Kyo was talking about. He looked down at the memory device in his hands. After watching through the memory, he had no doubt. _'This boy is…'_

…

…

A/N: DUN DUN DUN.  
Urgh… I wrote an icky bad romance scene T.T Part of me always cringes (even whilst the other part of me rejoices) when I read these types of fanfics… But now I'm writing them…


	29. The Revelation

**Chapter 29: The Revelation**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: These are why this update is late: crystallinex. deviantart #/d3c3g84  
I spent three whole days on it… But you can't really see the details… D:  
The 2nd version (which took one more day) is here… crystallinex. deviantart art/Re-Forgotten-Memories-201833576 I got lazy on the close up of Karin...

…

**Chapter 29**

The Revelation

…

Karin had a feeling that she had witnessed the scene playing out before her eyes many times. Her eyes traveled back and forth between the two men shouting at each other with the occasional input from others. She wasn't even surprised that the two men were arguing.

" – so what are we going to do about – "  
"We have to keep her at home, of course!"  
"That's ridiculous, old man! She can't stay here like a hermit for who knows how long it'll take for her memories to return!"  
"Better than her going out and getting lost – "  
"But if we send her to school, she might gain her memories back faster…"

The father wheeled upon the honey-haired girl who had suggested the blasphemous idea. "How can you say that Yuzu! How can she go to school in this state? She probably won't remember any of her subjects - "

On the other hand, the subject of discussion herself had closed her eyes to recall the similar scenario. _"Why can't I just quit karate?" An orange-haired middle school boy yelled, balling his fists. _The father had roared back in kind, but the scene blurred and faded as the ongoing conversation seeped through her ears.

"Why not just take her around to see familiar things one by one?" suggested Rukia.

"She's spent her whole life in this house! If she hasn't regained her memories by now, she's probably not going to remember anything no matter – "

Ichigo snapped at his father. "Then you plan to keep her cloistered away like a nun for her whole life?"

Before Karin knew it, the snitches of the memory had already flown out of her grasp in lieu of the contents of the conversation. She opened her eyes.

"Will you please stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" she said irritably.

Ichigo turned to her. "We have to decide whether you can go to school or not!"

Karin narrowed her eyes at the orange-haired shinigami. "You make it sound as if _I_ can't decide for myself."

"Well – "

Toushirou finally lost his patience. "Kurosaki." All four of the Kurosaki family turned to him. He gritted his teeth and ground out, "Kurosaki _Karin_."

Karin didn't know why she felt as if her heart squeezed tightly at this manner of address. He had called her 'Karin' when they had first met… Why did he revert to surname basis now? It was almost as if the silver haired shinigami didn't want to refer to her by her given name any more. _'Why?'_

Turquoise eyes peered closely at her. "Were you listening?"

A flush crept up Karin's neck. "N… no." she admitted.

Suppressing an exasperated sigh, Toushirou repeated the question. "I asked, 'what happened to Japan in 1945?'"

"The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Karin answered automatically. As soon as she had answered, she frowned. Wait. How did she know that?

Raising his eyebrows at Isshin, Toushirou said, "See. It's still in there." He leaned forward and tapped Karin's forehead. "Somewhere."

This time, she felt her heart flutter at the contact. Nevertheless, she made a face and swatted his hand away. "If you've all decided on whether I'm fit for school or not, do you mind leaving me alone?"

Her whole 'family' protested at this. "We're not leaving!" exclaimed Yuzu.

"Just so you can run away again?" Ichigo asked shrewdly. "No way." he snorted.

Karin rolled her eyes. "I'm _not_ going to run away." _'Unless it's to find Kyo.' _She added to herself.

As if he had had read her mind, Isshin warned her, "And no going off to look for Kyo either."

Fuming at this, Karin thought, _'Damnit. And after the first time, they're going to keep a close watch on me._' Out loud, she conceded, "Okay, okay. I won't go looking for Kyo." _'Not under your watch, anyways._' "I won't go looking for him, so will you please just leave me alone? I need to think."

Upon receiving skeptical looks, Karin snarled, "It's because I think I'm remembering something, alright?"

The rest of the shinigami obviously doubted her, but Toushirou knew that Karin was terrible at lying. He stood up abruptly and left the room.

Seeing his retreating form, Karin felt a sharp ache in her heart once again. Ignoring it, she drove the rest of the people from the room. "Go on, get out!" She herded them out and saw Yuzu give her one last backward glance before Karin snapped the door shut.

Sighing, Karin leaned back against the door. Her eyes swept across the room with two beds. One bed had pink sheets, while the other had navy blue. Assuming that the navy blue bed was hers, Karin walked over to the bed and sat on it. She examined her side of the room and saw pictures pinned up on the walls, much like the one she had seen earlier, though of significantly smaller size (and without the hearts).

Scooting on the bed to get closer to the wall, Karin took a closer look. The man was kicking the white and black ball from her dreams.

Karin briefly wondered if she should just sleep to remember everything. But she concluded that it wouldn't work, and if it did, all her memories would be scrambled, all out of order.

She flopped back on the bed, thinking.

The people who had the most impact in her subconscious seemed to be the people who claimed to be her family, and curiously enough, the silver-haired boy.

How Toushirou had first greeted her and the way her heart reacted to him, suggested that there had been something other than friendship between them… but what was the point in dwelling on it? She couldn't even remember him. Admittedly, she found him very attractive – especially his breathtaking blue-green eyes – but they couldn't very well build a relationship out of physical attraction. All she knew about him was his name and that he had a cold, and at times sarcastic, demeanor.

Turning over to her side, Karin forced her line of thought off of Toushirou, and turned it to her soul weapon. Were her fake memories connected to her not being able to meet Koutetsu as well?

As Karin rolled over and over on the bed, thoroughly confused, she felt three presences leave the house.

…

"They took Kyo and Karin with them, you say?" Aizen asked icily.

Hiroshi trembled. "I stopped them from taking Ryou, however."

"That makes little difference. She does not have as much sway on them." As much as Aizen didn't want to admit it, the loss of Karin was problematic to his plans. She had been a crucial hostage and psychological weapon. He had now lost his precious bishop. He had no choice but to call his queen to eliminate all the enemies.

"Call her."

Hiroshi looked up, confused. "Her…?"

Turning his head away from a mere pawn, Aizen replied, "Yes."

Still, Hiroshi was puzzled. "Her… as in…"

As he received a piercing look, Hiroshi gulped, realizing he had just awoken the sleeping tiger. Aizen clarified coldly, "Yes, Hinamori-kun." He turned away again. "You may take an arrancar with you."

As Hiroshi hastily obeyed, Aizen said, "Come forth, my soldiers."

All the Espada stepped forward in order, starting from Titiritero. His expression had become mutinous, as if he harbored even more resentments than before. Clara now wore her tattoo on her shoulder, just visible under the white transparent gauze of her sleeves: it was now a number six.

De Pie had a sour expression; even though his arm had been sewn back on, it was still weaker than before. His bitterness might also have been attributed to the three new arrancar that stood in line before him; he still remained number ten. The new Espada now occupied the spots of number five, eight, and nine. In the eighth and ninth spots stood Opaco's sisters, Stheno Poderoso* Gorgon and Euryale Viajante* Gorgon. In the fifth spot was claimed by a spindly man with long black hair and a beret perched on top.

"We will have to hasten in our plans."

Titiritero narrowed his eyes at the ex-shinigami. When had Aizen started using the 'royal we?' Or did he just enjoy pretending that all the arrancar wanted the same thing as he did?

But apparently the other Espada had no qualms about being used, as they all bowed.

Titiritero jerked his head into a bow just in time, while thinking malevolently, _'Just you wait, Aizen. I'll make sure your plans don't succeed. I still have one wild card left.'_

***Poderoso = Mighty (Spanish)  
*Viajante = Traveler (Spanish)**  
Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa are the three Gorgons in Greek mythology.

…

The rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to set, throwing everything into a beautiful but ominous red glow, reminiscent of blood.

Isshin reached the meeting point where he and Urahara usually met, and saw Urahara already present, waiting. Urahara in turn, noted Ichigo and Toushirou had accompanied Isshin. Adjusting his hat, Urahara said, "Well, I guess this makes things easier, as I only have to tell the situation once."

"I suppose the reason you called me out is because you've found out the identity of this so called Kyo." Isshin prompted.

"You are quite correct." Urahara confirmed.

"What is he?" Ichigo asked.

Urahara replied simply, "He is a puppet with feelings."

Silence reigned after this rather anticlimactic statement.

Ichigo usurped the silence by asking uncertainly, "By 'puppet,' you're talking metaphorically, right? Like he's being manipulated."

Urahara looked at Ichigo with steady grey eyes. "No. I mean it in the most literal sense. A puppet."

Still they were unable to comprehend what he was saying. Kyo wasn't a sock puppet, a paper puppet, a marionette, or anything else inanimate being controlled by something else. Seeing their incomprehension, Urahara explained patiently, "Puppets are not all controlled by strings. Kyo is not controlled directly, but he was programmed to act in a certain way. I guess a more accurate term would be a 'robot.'"

Even Toushirou was struggling to understand. "Programmed…"

Urahara clarified, "Kyo is an artificially made soul placed into an artificially made human body."

…

Karin felt like a train had had smashed into her at full speed.

Her mind was reeling.

Kyo. Kyo, who she had once believed was her twin. Artificial? An artificial soul? A _puppet? _A _robot?_

When she had felt the three leave the house, Karin had carefully concealed her spiritual presence and tailed them.

And she had been justly punished for it.

She couldn't bear to listen any more. Blindly, she made her way back home and somehow managed to climb in through the window without being noticed by the two shinigami guarding the house.

Slumping onto the floor, Karin buried her face in her hands. Then, to her own surprise, she started laughing. It burst out of her, growing louder and more uncontrollable.

The fact that all her memories had just been a fantasy hadn't really clicked until then. Her mind may have known, but her heart hadn't really acknowledged it.

She had always thought deep down, that Kyo couldn't be anything other than her twin. A human.

Somewhere in her mind, Karin had doubted what the people had told her. People could always feed her lies to her face. But she knew they wouldn't lie behind her back. Once she had heard it being talked about from a third person perspective, all her doubts were blown cruelly away.

Kyo wasn't her brother.

All her memories of him had been created by some sadistic bastard who was no doubt laughing at them from somewhere in Hueco Mundo.

And she had fallen right for the trap.

This left Karin so maniacally shocked that all she could do was laugh. At herself. At her stupidity. Laugh until she was breathless.

Yuzu opened the door, wondering what Karin had found so funny. She saw Karin on the floor, laughing.

"Karin-chan?"

But Karin didn't answer, only shaking her head, laughing so hard that tears leaked down her face. As her laughter slowly abated, Karin stood up slowly, swiping at the tears still falling from her eyes. But no matter how much she wiped them away, they still fell. It was only then that Yuzu realized that they weren't tears of laughter.

Karin was silently weeping.

…

Unaware that Karin had followed them and subsequently left in shock, the four continued to discuss Kyo.

"An artificial body… Do you mean a gigai?" Toushirou asked.

"No. By 'artificially made body' I just meant that it wasn't _born_ as humans are. It may have been _created, _but his body is human. With cells and everything. A gigai cannot even begin to compare in the complexity of a human body." After a moment of thought, Urahara added, "Unless it's one of mine, of course. Mine are practically indiscernible from humans. Why, even Isshin-san here could inesemin - " Isshin punched Urahara in the face before he could finish that sentence.

Unaware of what Urahara had been about to say about his and his siblings' origins, Ichigo exclaimed, "So you mean a _clone_?"

His nose bloody from Isshin's punch, Urahara held his nose and shook his head. "I subbose glonig is as glose to what humans would gall it, but he's not strigtly a glone of anyboddy." Recovering somewhat, Urahara continued in a more normal voice, "Not a clone in the cellular sense, anyways, because his body belongs completely to his spirit. But his spirit is another matter."

Ichigo's face contorted in confusion. "Huh? Whuzzat mean?"

Crossing his arms, Isshin frowned. "Do you mean that that it's his spirit that's a clone? How can that be? And what do you mean by 'his body belongs to his spirit'?"

Instead of answering the question, Urahara turned to Toushirou and seemingly went off on a tangent. "The first time Aizen's men tried to kidnap Karin-san, she had direct contact with an arrancar. An Espada, to be precise."

Toushirou remembered how he, Urahara, and Yoruichi had arrived in time to see Karin struggling in Caballero's grip. "Skin-to-skin contact." He grimly affirmed. "But what does that have to do with his spirit being a copy?"

But Urahara was not to be rushed in his explanation. "Within that short period of contact, the Segundo Espada must have sampled Karin-san's spirit – no, her soul – and given it to somebody with the unique power to make partial souls whole, giving them life and fashioning separate bodies for them."

Realization dawned upon them.

"So unlike Soul Candy or Gikongan which take on the physical appearance of the spirit that swallows them, Kyo's spirit will look exactly like his body." Urahara concluded. "_That's_ what I meant by his body belonging completely to his spirit."

"So in short, Kyo's spirit was created from a sample of Karin's soul? And his body was tailored to fit his spirit?" Isshin questioned incredulously.

"It may be hard to believe, but after seeing him properly and looking at his falsified memories, I'm sure. They must have seen how hollowfication succeeded on Karin-san and wanted to experiment further on it." '_Or use him to anchor Karin-san, who would in turn be used as leverage against us.' _Urahara thought. Out loud, he said, "I imagine he was the first of Team Exile to be 'taught' how to manifest his soul weapon, even before Karin-san. Seeing how the soul weapon belonging to the Karin-san of his memories' matches the soul weapon of the real one, they must have reformatted his memories, or been able to predict how her soul weapon would manifest from her soul sample. I am inclined to think the former."

"But how does he also own twin swords?" Isshin asked.

"Well, he _was_ made from Karin's own soul." Toushirou commented.

"Wait, if he's a clone of Karin's soul, why is he male?" Ichigo wanted to know.

Urahara answered with a shrug. "Like I said, he's not exactly a clone. As for the gender matter, we can't be sure, but his creator must have some… creative… liberty over the details of his creations. Though I still don't understand how Kyo broke free of his original programming…"

"You mean he's got his own free will? He doesn't just listen to his master's orders? So he's like Kon?" Ichigo asked. "Kon's an artificial soul with feelings."

Urahara replied, "Yes, and no. As far as I can tell, Kyo started out more like a regular gikongan like Chappy, before his will became more like Kon's, completely independent from his creator's. But unlike Kon's candy form, he has an actual spiritual body."

As the three shinigami digested this information, Urahara rubbed his chin and remarked pensively, "His protectiveness over Karin-san may have been what ultimately triggered his power to decide things beyond what he was programmed for. To be sure, the creator gave him an indubitable amount of familial affection for Karin-san."

Isshin's face softened when he heard this. After a moment of consideration, he asked, "Do we have to keep him restrained? Can't he just stay with us?"

Eyeing the weakening Isshin, Urahara warned, "He might still pose a danger if he's free to roam around. Remember, he doesn't have any underlying memories like Karin-san does."

At this, Toushirou was reminded of Karin's missing memories. "Is there any way we can get her memories back?"

Already prepared to head back to his shop, Urahara swung his cane round in circles. "Well, they must return eventually. She should already be getting them back, in little bits and pieces, albeit unconsciously. If you don't want to wait, then you'll have to find something with a strong enough impact to return them in one blow."

Even though Urahara had said that, as he turned his back on them he thought, _'Aizen must be making his next move, so we don't have much time. Get your memories back quickly, Karin-san... Or it may be too late.'_

…

The next day, Karin mechanically put on the gray blazer and skirt that Yuzu had lain out for her, and followed her to school.

Yuzu was cheerfully chattering away, but Karin could still tell that it was somewhat forced. Maybe it was just a twin's instinct. She had been like that for Kyo as well -

Karin vehemently shook her head. No. Kyo wasn't her twin. He wasn't even _human_. However, as soon as she thought this, she felt a sharp pain, as if her soul was being rendered in two.

Once she arrived at school Karin was greeted by all the people who had believed her to be dead, by some _serial killer._

Most of the people who greeted her were male, Karin noticed. She _had_ been a tomboy before she had lost her memories after all.

"You're alive, Kurosaki!"  
"I didn't believe Seta, he hardly seemed sure himself…"  
"What did the serial killer look like? How did you escape?"

"Be quiet!" A girl smacked the boy who had asked that insensitive question. As the boy rubbed his head, she turned to Karin and said, "We're glad you're safe."

"You're wearing a skirt!" A boy observed.

Beleaguered by all the questions, Karin refrained from commenting on any of them, and only muttered a short 'hey' before she ducked after Yuzu.

Trotting after Yuzu, she observed drily, "School seems… overwhelming."

At this, Yuzu giggled. "I would never have imagined you'd say that before all this." She stopped when a tall boy a little older than them greeted them.

"Hiko-senpai…" Yuzu said nervously.

Karin was confused as to why Yuzu would be so nervous. Sure, he was tall, but he didn't look all that imposing…

"Kurosaki," Hiko addressed Karin. "Are you going to be at today's practice?"

Bewildered, Karin couldn't help herself. "Practice?"

Belatedly, she remembered Yuzu sternly telling her something about soccer practice, but she had no idea what soccer was, and had been too proud to ask. No point in regretting it now. Scratching the back of her head, Karin fumbled her words. "Y-yeah. I guess I forgot about soccer practice, what with all that's happened. Sorry, Hiko-senpai."

Hiko frowned, as if he'd misheard the last sentence. "What did you just call me?"

Damnit, had she gotten his name wrong? But Yuzu had definitely called him 'Hiko-senpai.'

"H… Hiko-senpai?" Karin stammered, not noticing Yuzu making desperate throat-cutting motions behind his back.

Hiko put a hand on Karin's forehead, surprising her.

"Are you sure you're fit to come back to school? You didn't hit your head or anything? First you're wearing a skirt, then you call me 'Hiko-senpai' instead of 'Capt.' Did something happen?" His eyes were filled with genuine concern.

Stepping back, Karin stuttered, "N-no. It was just… a joke, _Capt_." She cringed, realizing how false the excuse sounded. Alright, she had to admit that she was a lousy excuse of a liar. "And… Yuzu forced me to wear the skirt." Technically, that was the truth.

She was running out of steam to drive her already-weak lies, so Karin searched desperately for an escape. Thankfully, the bell rang then, and Karin hid a sigh of relief. Literally saved by the bell. Murmuring a "See you later" to the soccer captain, she dashed after Yuzu.

"I should have reminded you that you always called Hiko-senpai, 'Capt.'" Yuzu berated herself.

"No… I shouldn't've said his name… I just thought it would be more convincing if I did… Didn't know it would have the opposite effect..." Karin gloomily replied as they trooped into the classroom.

Automatically, Karin headed for her regular seat without even waiting for Yuzu to go over to hers. She plopped down a seat over from the window, and proceeded to stare out the window, looking for all the world like her normal self.

Hopeful, Yuzu sat down beside her and whispered, "Are you remembering?"

Tearing her gaze from the scenery outside the window, Karin turned towards Yuzu. "Hm?"

In a more urgent tone, Yuzu repeated, "Do you remember? Anything at all?"

Karin mutely shook her head, and placing her chin back in her hand, went back to staring out the window. The hills outside the school hid the buildings… Buildings? The huge structures made of metal and glass came to mind.

Since when did she know what the structures were called? Were her memories coming back, bit by bit? Gaining hope, Karin closed her eyes, trying to remember more. She drew a blank.

"So you remembered your seat on your own, eh?"

Karin's eyes popped open at the familiar voice. "Why are you here, Toushirou?"

Toushirou shrugged. "I look about your age, even if I'm actually roughly thirty years older than you." He sat down between her and the window.

Karin's eyes widened at this information. "Eh? So you're actually forty – " she was stopped mid-number by Toushirou's hand. He scowled at her. Karin realized that she had been speaking very loudly. She managed to look apologetic with her eyes, and he removed his hand from her mouth, not without another warning scowl.

A girl approached them. Yuzu hurriedly wrote 'Midoriko' on her paper and showed Karin in the pretense of passing her a textbook. Karin had to applaud Yuzu for her suaveness despite her demure appearance. If only she had half of that skill…

"What is it, Midoriko?" Karin asked. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was almost eight o'clock. "Hurry up and spit it out, class is about to start." The latter sentence just seemed to roll off her tongue. Had she always been this blunt?

Midori smiled and hugged Karin around the shoulders, "I just wanted to say I'm happy to see you back safe, Karin-chan."

Karin half-smiled back at her and nodded, shooing her off as the bell rang and the teacher came in, calling for the students' attention.

…

Most of the day went smoothly with the occasional help from Yuzu. On the other hand, Toushirou didn't provide any help at all, which Karin resented.

After school, the soccer team greeted her no less enthusiastically than the other students. Even more so, in fact.

"Kuro-chan!"  
"Seta was right! The whole school was right! You _are_ alive!"  
"Hope your legs haven't gotten rusty while you were gone, Kurosaki."  
"Did you hear we scraped by the district preliminaries?"

Her teammates piled onto her in a group hug, slapping her on the back, clapping her on the shoulders, ruffling her hair, and putting her in headlocks; by the end of the welcome, she looked altogether rumpled.

Hiko, on the other hand, asked worriedly, "Are you sure you're up for the practice? You don't have to play the second round. We can let you in for the third game of the district tournament."

Karin found herself grinning and pointing a thumb to her chest. "What, you think the team can even make it to the third round without me?"

But when it came to the soccer practice itself, as she watched all the other players warm up, Karin realized she had no idea how to play. Toushirou, having figured this, beckoned to Karin. Still rather irritated with his earlier lack of cooperation, at first Karin considered if she should pretend not to have seen his call, but thought better of it. Reluctantly, she approached him.

Toushirou said to her in a low voice, "You don't remember how to play, do you?"

Somehow, the way he said it aggravated Karin. Harrumphing, she glared at him. "What do you care?"

"I take that as a no." He deadpanned.

Karin shot back, "So what if I don't remember the details. You just kick the ball into the opposite net, don't you?" Having said this, she raised an eyebrow at the said nets. "But the nets are awfully big. Too easy to get the ball into."

Clucking his tongue, Toushirou reminded her, "You can't use your hohou skills here."

Karin crossed her arms. "I know _that_."

"Plus, there are other rules." Toushirou pointed out. "Like positions and different formations… when it's a legal score… the difference between a corner kick and a goalie kick… what you do when the ball goes out… and when there's a penalty kick, which you're in charge of, by the way…"

Refraining from kicking him upside the head for spouting so many things at once, Karin instead waved her hand and said airily, "Forget it. I'll just wing it. I get the general point of the game. You kick, you score."

That was a severe simplification of soccer, Toushirou thought. Meanwhile, Karin fluidly maneuvered a black and white ball into the air with her feet and began to bounce it off her feet in a practiced motion.

Toushirou watched her juggle the ball. "See. Your body remembers, even if your mind doesn't."

What Toushirou said made Karin think about Kyo again. Dropping the soccer ball to the ground, Karin scuffed the field with her cleats, looking down. "Yeah."

Then, the whistle blew, and it was time to gather. Karin inhaled deeply. It was time to face the music.

They separated the team into two groups, Hiko in charge of Team A, and Karin appointed the leader of Team B.

"Sorry to give you such a tough position on your first day back, Kurosaki." said the coach. "Just consider it the expression of my faith in your abilities."

Considering that she didn't remember anything about soccer and had just said that she'd play it by ear, Karin should have been nervous. But on the contrary, as their group gathered to discuss their play, Karin automatically examined her teammates, and was already setting up a strategy. How, she didn't know. The information about soccer, which she hadn't remembered even moments before just effortlessly flowed into her mind. Maybe the harder she tried, the harder it became to remember. She should just relax and let things go, and it would come back to her naturally.

Team B had more substitutes than starting players, she absently noted. _'Trust Coach to give me the team that's harder to manage. He really wants me to be captain next year, eh?'_ But she could work with that.

Looking around, she found that on the soccer field, she could recognize faces that elsewhere, she wouldn't have. The boy she saw yesterday was Seta, a fellow midfielder. The 'Hiko-senpai' who had greeted her and Yuzu was the captain of the team and the striker. One by one, she recalled the names and player positions to match the faces.

She examined Team A and predicted that Hiko would use the *3-4-3 flat formation, as they had more starting players that were mostly good at offense; he also had Sato, the goalie used in all the main matches to make up for what would be Team A's weakest link: the defense.

On the other hand, she had two of the members used as starter defense or defending midfielders on her team. There was one substitute who showed promise in defense position as well. So she would have a strong defense. She also had two main midfielders, Seta and Eiji, on her team; three if they counted her. And then there was Toushirou. Observing his profile, Karin could only suppose that he'd be good in just about any position. She _could_ put him in as the goalie, but she thought the striker position suited him the most.

She clapped her hands. "Okay folks. We're going for the *3-4-2-1."

The 3-4-2-1 formation was one that was rarely, if not never, used in soccer. Brushing off the dumbfounded looks her teammates were giving her, Karin continued, "You're," she pointed at Toushirou, "the striker." Their jaws dropped, as they had thought that she would take the position of striker herself. "You and I," she addressed a substitute with black hair and bleached streaks in it, "will be supporting forwards. And you guys," she indicated four people that included Seta and Eiji, "will be the midfielders. You can decide amongst yourselves which positions to take."

She turned to the remaining three and the goalie. "You three will be the defense." She nodded to the goalie. "And last but far from the least, you are the goalie. I know you can do it."

A torrent of protests poured out from the players.  
"What?"  
"The 3-4-2-1 formation is _never_ used!"  
"This is a scrimmage, but that doesn't mean it's okay to throw the game." Seta said.

Glaring at the team she had temporarily been made captain of, Karin replied, "I know that this formation isn't used often, but this'll work best against our opponent. Just look at them! They have the majority of the starting offensive players. There's a chance they'll use 3-4-3 flat."

"Won't Captain Hiko go for the normal *4-4-2? That's the most common formation, after all." quipped a substitute.

Karin raised an eyebrow. "If it's a 4-4-2, even better. The 3-4-2-1 is specially tailored against formations that are strong in midfields, remember?"

That convinced the remaining doubters.

…

A/N: PAUSE. A (quick?) explanation for the soccer(football for some folks) formations stated above.  
***3-4-3 flat**: 3 defense, 4 midfielders, 3 forwards. Offensive formation with little defensive thinking. Doubled with Hiko's relatively weak defensive players = extremely weak defense.  
***4-4-2**: 4 defense, 4 midfielders, 2 forwards. Standard formation.  
***3-4-2-1**: 3 defense, 4 midfielders, 2 forwards, 1 striker. Looks the same as 3-4-3 at first sight, but requires a different team mindset, based more on pressuring the midfielders. Ideal against 4-4-2 formation. Doubled with 3 good defenders = ideal team in Karin's case.

…

Toushirou gazed at Karin levelly. _'Just moments ago, she didn't remember a thing about soccer, but now she's listing formations as if she knows them like the back of her hand. And she even remembers her teammates' player positions. Trust soccer to be the thing that brings her memories back.'_ He felt a little irritated, but he didn't attribute it to jealousy. Him? Jealous of a _sport?_ As if.

The irritated feeling refused to leave, however.

After the strategy discussion had finished, Seta was the first to stick out his hand. One by one, the other teammates placed his hand on top, until only Karin and Toushirou remained. Despite herself, Karin grinned and placed her hand in the pile as well, where it looked relatively small on top of all the bigger ones. She looked over to Toushirou. He opened his mouth, and for a moment, Karin thought he was going to refuse, saying that it was too childish, or something of the sort. But his lips curled up into a genuine smile, and he walked over to place his hand on top of hers.

When she felt the warmth of his hand on hers, Karin's heart rate sped up. A blush threatened to rise to her cheeks, so in an effort to hide it, she quickly shouted, "Men! Let's go out and win this!"

The others roared in agreement and they all threw up their hands in unison.

There was a similar shout from across the field, and all the players went to their respective positions.

As Karin had expected, Hiko had chosen the formation of three forwards, four midfielders, and three defenders. He was in center forward position, and facing Toushirou head on. There was a strange tension between them, Karin noted, as she took her place at Toushirou's left.

There was a coin toss, and Hiko won, taking the first ball.

She heard the coach blow the whistle, and the match began. Hiko took possession of the ball, and rolled it over to the forward on his right, who passed it back to a midfielder before running ahead. The forwards and midfielders of both teams moved to their respective places. The midfielders of Hiko's team passed the ball cautiously back and forth, before launching their actual attack. Karin kept an eye down the field where the ball was, and another on the defense, trying to spy where their weaknesses lay. She saw that way down the field Hiko had tried to score, but had been blocked by the defense. A defender passed the ball back up field. Karin prepped herself and tried to get open.

The ball finally came flying her way, and she wasted no time in passing it to Toushirou. He maneuvered it to the front of the goal, before having to jump to avoid a slide tackle, which resulted in the ball being taken by the opponent. The ball got passed down midfield before Eiji lived up to his title as a starting midfielder and pressured the midfielder he had marked into making a bad pass. Seta intercepted this pass and directed the ball straight to Karin. In turn, she shot the ball to Toushirou again, who then made a shoot for the goal box. Sato made a dive for it, but was a nanosecond too late and it slipped past his gloves.

Grinning with delight at the narrow goal, Karin jogged back to the start up position, high-fiving Seta and Eiji on the way. She chanced a glance at Toushirou, and their eyes met. Her cheeks reddening, she averted her gaze. _'Focus. You don't want to lose, do you?'_ This seemed to work, as she felt her competitive spirit flare up, and she didn't blush at all the next time their eyes met, when Toushirou was signaling for the kickoff. The whistle blew once more, and Toushirou tapped the ball to Karin, who kicked it down the field to Seta before setting off for her given place as a forward. But as she zigzagged up the field, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Hiko had stolen the ball from her midfielders before they could pass it back up. Though the ball moved ever closer to their team's goal post, the two forwards and striker were forced to move up the field to the opposing team's goal post instead. Karin clenched her fists and thought, _'C'mon defense…'_

Though the defense put up a good fight, the goalie had such little experience that he dove for the wrong end of the goal post when Hiko shot the ball.

Returning to their positions, Karin glanced at the time. It was a little before halftime, so they still had a chance to pull ahead.

Again, Hiko kicked off, but this time, Karin shot forward and gave the opponent no chance to pass to a midfielder. She stole the ball, and dribbled it until she spied the streaked hair of the right forward. She passed to him, praying that he wouldn't mess up. In answer to her prayers, though surrounded by two defensive players, he managed to pass the ball back to her. He would make a good midfielder, Karin thought in the back of her mind, though another part of her triumphed at how Team A's defense was weak, just as she predicted. Seeing that Toushirou was marked by the one seasoned defensive player Team A had, and that more midfielders were rushing towards them, Karin just aimed for the goal box from where she stood. From that distance, where the ball would go would be hard to judge; however, if judged correctly, then there would be plenty of time to block it, and Sato had deadly accuracy. It seemed that Sato had judged correctly; but he didn't get a proper grip on the ball and it slipped from his hands, into the goal. The whistle signaling halftime blew.

Sato retrieved the ball, groaning. "Man, I'm really out of it today, aren't I, Kuro-chan?"

Karin smirked at him and said playfully, "No. It's just that I'm good."

Sato wagged his finger and one-handedly threw the ball towards her, which she caught with her fingers. "Don't get cheeky now. Next time it won't be so easy."

She barked out a laugh. "You think that was _easy_?"

Though Karin had been afraid the pace of the game would change during the second half, once the game was over and done with, she realized that she hadn't needed to worry. Even the substitute right forward had dodged past the relatively weak defense and scored, leaving them with a score of 3 to 2, with Team B's victory.

She shook hands with Hiko, who said, "Good game." He shot her a grin.

"You too, Capt." She said, feeling more comfortable in this world than ever.

The coach was delighted to see that Karin had lived up to his expectations. "A 3-4-2-1 formation, eh? Well played, Kurosaki, well played!" He slapped her enthusiastically on the back.

Resisting the urge to rub her back, Karin grinned weakly at her coach.

…

Elated from her victory even when the odds had been stacked against her, Karin skipped back home with Toushirou, humming a song that she didn't even remember.

Toushirou gave her an amused look. "Are you really that happy?"

Caught up in the moment, Karin kissed him on the cheek and grinned happily, "Yes!"

Toushirou's look of amusement turned into one of astonishment. This one small, innocuous sign of affection brought about a warm, happy feeling in Toushirou. Oblivious of this, Karin hopped ahead. But one thought blew away all of the warmth Toushirou felt. He abruptly stopped walking.

"Even if Kyo isn't really your brother?" he asked quietly.

At this question, Karin froze mid-step. Drunken from victory, she had forgotten completely about Kyo. How could she?

Turning, she gave Toushirou a look beyond hurt; she looked completely crushed.

Toushirou became angrier than he had ever imagined possible when he saw her face expression. Furious, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"What's wrong with you? You found out that he wasn't your brother at the same time you realized your memories weren't real! He's not even _human_! He – "

"I know that!" Karin screamed back at him. "I _know_ he's not even a human! That he's a puppet, a _robot_ – "Karin cut herself off.

Her last statement stunned Toushirou. "You… overheard?" He was too aghast to even reprimand her on the fact that she had left the house.

"Yes. I followed you guys yesterday." Karin whispered. "He's a robot… just programmed to show me affection… not a real person with feelings..."

Toushirou flinched; he had let his emotions – his ridiculous envy of the false brother taking up a larger portion in Karin's heart – get the better of him. So she had found out in a completely undesirable way. It hadn't even been his place to tell her… He hadn't wanted her to find out like this…

Heart filled with regret, he reached out to touch her face.

When his fingertips gently touched her skin, Karin closed her eyes.

Then his strong arms enveloped her, and she leaned into his embrace. "I'm sorry, Karin." His husky voice murmured into her ear. How could it be that she found the arms of the person who could hurt her so much so comforting? Her arms crept around his midsection.

They stood there for a long time, just in each other's embrace.

…

…

Is this the first time I've ended a chapter without a cliffhanger? Le gasp!

This chapter is mostly filler+fluffish things (IMO), two things I find difficult to write. And there was the soccer scene. =_= that was on a difficulty level equal to fighting scenes. Maybe all action scenes are the same.

But! This chapter had the (big?) unveiling of Kyo's true identity. Was it too convoluted and difficult to understand? Or a bit of a letdown, I wonder?


	30. Re:Awakening

**Chapter 30: Re:Awakening**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel…

…

**Chapter 30**

Re:Awakening

…

Hinamori Momo stood at the center of Las Noches, looking very small in her white clothes and long hair compared to the large chamber. As soon as she had been taken there, Hiroshi and all the arrancar had vanished. And now, instead of looking listless and emotionless, Momo wore a very expressive face, except the expression was of fear and distress.

"A...Aizen-Taichou?" Her timid voice sounded through the chamber. "Aizen-Taichou?" She sounded more panicked now.

A figure stepped from the shadow. "Hinamori-sama."

When she heard the voice, Momo's face expression turned from alarm to apathy. She turned around to face Caballero.

"…It's you…" she spoke in a monotone voice once again.

Caballero knelt on one knee and kissed her hand. "It is… a pleasure to see you again, Hinamori-sama."

"…Where… is Aizen-Taichou?" Momo asked slowly.

"I am under orders to escort you to your quarters here until Aizen-sama calls you." He stood and held out his arm for her to take, like a gentleman would. "If I may…?"

Not seeing his professed arm, Momo looked around, in agitation once again. "Where is he? Where is Aizen-Taichou? Does he not want to see me? Is he sick – "

Caballero's green eyes turned cold and disdainful as he put his arm down. With this woman, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't force his thoughts to be gentlemanly; with his patience spread so thin, neither could he keep his mouth in line.

"I don't know why Aizen-sama bothers to keep a half-witted woman like yourself by his side." His voice was uncharacteristically caustic.

At this, Momo froze. She turned around, her brown eyes wide with consternation. "Eh…?"

Stepping closer to her, Caballero put a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. "Your soul has already _died_, _Mistress_ Momo. I bid you remember that the next time you call for your '_Aizen-Taichou_.' You became mentally unsound and _killed_ yourself. It is all Aizen-sama can do to anchor your spirit – no matter how broken and unhinged it is – to this world."

Momo continued to stare at him, like a deer caught in headlights. Caballero let go of her chin and tilted his hat down again. "Though I suppose you do have your uses." He smiled at her not without some condescension. "Aizen-sama calls you his 'queen.' Does that make you happy?" Though his tone was pleasant once again, there was the barest hint of sarcasm in the question.

As if her mind hadn't registered a word Caballero had said before the last two sentences, much less detected his sarcasm, Momo's cheeks turned pink, and she nodded rapidly.

Caballero turned his back to her. _'The chess-piece 'queen' is deranged, but wields great power, no matter if it was granted to her by Aizen-sama. Insane, yet powerful. A dangerous combination…'_

…

Toushirou and Karin stood in each other's arms for what seemed simultaneously like an infinite yet achingly brief time.

Karin's voice came muffled from his chest. "Why am I so weak around you?"

Toushirou pulled back to look down at her, an intensity in his eyes as he searched her face. Altogether, what he saw wouldn't have made other guys to feel the way he did. Karin wasn't looking at her best; she was sweaty from the game, hair falling out in matted tangles from her ponytail, and she had dark shadows under her eyes from a sleepless night.

Yet Toushirou had an inexplicable urge, and acted upon it. He leaned forward to capture Karin's lips with his own.

At this, Karin's eyes widened. To say the least, she was stunned, but soon enough, her eyelids closed and she returned the kiss. The texture of his lips upon her own, his taste, was so familiar to her…

Her eyes shot open.

Then the memories came.

Flashes of her first meeting with him, how he had helped her defeat her hollow, how she had learned his name… Then the memories of her family; how her father kept up a silly façade with his pranks, how her twin Yuzu had an unexpectedly vindictive side to her, how her brother always put on a scowl on his face to hide his kindness, how her mother died, how rain represented a terrible sadness…

The memories in torrents, flooding her mind, and brought with them an excruciating pain.

Having long since broken off the kiss, Karin staggered away from Toushirou, holding her head and doubling over.

"Karin! What's wrong?" Toushirou's panicked voice sounded through the haze of pain, and despite the pain, Karin smiled weakly.

"Stupid… Don't… put on such… a worried face... You're supposed to be always cool and… composed…"

Toushirou could only hold Karin's hand and look on helplessly while her body convulsed in pain. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered at what she had just said and how she had just addressed him, but the rest of his thoughts tried to discern why she was in so much pain. Had it been the _kiss_?

Karin's hand went limp in his own, and she became still. Toushirou's eyes widened. "Karin… Karin? Karin!"

But no matter how much he called her name, she didn't open her eyes. He knew she wasn't dead – he would see her spirit if she were – but he panicked nonetheless.

He scooped up Karin into his arms and started running to the Kurosaki clinic.

Once he got there, he fumbled with the doorknob because both his arms were holding Karin. Impatiently, Toushirou gave up and instead he-body slammed the door, hoping the people inside would hear.

They did; the door slammed open, and Toushirou only just leapt back in time, avoiding getting both him and Karin getting smashed.

It was Ichigo. He took one look at Karin and immediately let them in. "What the hell happened?" he exclaimed as Toushirou laid her down on her bed.

Toushirou shook his head, partly because he didn't know, the other part wary about confessing how he had kissed Ichigo's younger sister.

Yuzu came into view from the kitchen, holding a soup ladle and saying, "Welcome back, Karin-ch – " She momentarily stopped dead when she saw Karin lying motionless on the bed, before rushing over, saying the same thing as her brother, "What happened?"

And again, Toushirou shook his head.

The three gazed at the bed, the soup forgotten in their worry.

…

Urahara stared at Kyo, who glared right back. Finally, Urahara spoke. "Have you ever considered whether your memories were fabricated?"

Kyo's expression turned from angry to confused. "Fabricated…? Is that even possible?" Then his face darkened as he became angry again; so angry that as he struggled to break free of his bindings, the chair rattled back and forth, threatening to break. "Are _you_ doubting that I'm Karin's brother now too?" He shouted, "Even if the whole world denies it, I'm still Karin's brother! Her twin…" His voice grew hoarse, and he bowed his head, struggles dying away. "God damnit…" He whispered.

Urahara looked at Kyo, a hint of pity in his eyes. _'It's for the best…'_

He spoke. "You are not Karin's twin. Your memories are fabricated. Your soul? It's created. Your _body,_ even, was created." He laid the situation bare for Kyo to see. "Why do you get so angry when people suggest you are not Karin-san's twin? Normally, whether they first laugh it off or be bewildered, people would just correct whoever said otherwise. But you." Urahara pointed at Kyo's chest, his pose much like Uncle Sam, "_You_ get angry." Putting his hand down, Urahara said quietly, "Do you know why?"

Kyo stared at him, eyes wide with horror.

"It's because deep down, you _know_ this. You _know_ Karin-san isn't your twin. You _know_ that _you._ Were. Created."

He had done it. Sighing heavily and putting a hand on his hat, Urahara called out, "Ururu. Jinta."

As usual, the two appeared promptly. "…What is it this time, Tenchou (shop manager)?" Jinta asked grumpily. "I was in the middle of doing a 'Jinta Home Run.'" He pouted.

"I need you to keep watch over that child." Urahara answered pointing his cane towards Kyo.

Kyo had already long since gone silent, staring blankly at the ground.

Jinta glanced over towards the occupied chair. "Hey. What's Porcupine doing here? And tied to a chair no less."

In a soft voice, Ururu corrected him, "It's not Karin-san."

"Of course it is, look – " Jinta himself took a proper look at Kyo, and was taken aback. "Oh. It's a guy." Turning to Urahara, he asked, "Why does he look creepily similar to Porcupine?"

Sidestepping the question, Urahara said lightly, "I'm going out for a bit, so take care of things while I'm gone."

He slipped on his sandals and left the store, heading towards a destination unknown to the two kids.

Once Urahara had gone, Kyo recovered a bit and had lost the blank look in his eyes, though he still stared forward. But this stare seemed much more as if he were concentrating intently on something than zoning out.

As a matter of fact, Kyo was experimentally flexing his muscles. Bit by bit over time, he had wiggled his wrists, loosening the rope around his hands until he could break free using his spiritual energy. _'Urahara Kisuke made a mistake when he didn't seal my spiritual pressure when he bound me. Karin? Not my sister? Me? An artificial human? It can't be true.' _And so he waited to escape.

Ururu had gotten a glass of water for him, and she held it out for him to sip. "Umm… Would you care to…?"

Though he wanted to refuse to take anything from an enemy, Kyo was parched, so he nodded, and Ururu held the cup to his lips, letting him take a draught.

He took his chance when Ururu had left to put the glass away. Narrowing his eyes at Jinta's back, Kyo let out a burst of spiritual energy and snapped the ropes confining him to the chair. He leapt towards Jinta, who turned around too late to block Kyo's attack to the back of his neck. The hit effectively knocked him unconscious in one blow.

Ururu felt the flare of spiritual energy and rushed over to the room where she had last left Kyo and Jinta. She saw Jinta collapsed on the floor. Seeing what had happened, she whipped her head around, her gaze sweeping the room, but she didn't see Kyo. He couldn't have left; the kitchen was on the way to the exit, and there were no signs of him breaking out. She realized that he could only be –

Ururu's head snapped up as Kyo pounced from where he had hidden himself, supporting himself between two ceiling beams with his hands and feet, above her. She leapt back just in time to avoid a blow to the neck as well.

Skidding back, Ururu examined her opponent. Kyo had a bigger frame than she, and would also find it harder to fight in this small space. Taking advantage of where she stood, she adjusted her position herself directly between him and the front door.

Kyo knew had to leave before the shinigami and traitor arrancar came to investigate what the racket was all about. No matter how skilled he was, he was no match for a whole battalion of shinigami. Quiet, quick and clean, without blood, he told himself. Not wanting to summon his swords, Kyo warned Ururu, "Don't make me hurt you. Let me leave. I just want to find Karin is all."

Shaking her head, Ururu rose and went into a boxing stance. "Kisuke-san told us to keep watch over you. So forgive me if I hurt you to keep you here."

"And forgive me if I hurt you to escape." Kyo returned.

Spiritual energy radiated from her, and she lunged forward.

…

Urahara walked into an alley and called out in a singsong voice, "Yoruichi-san~"

The dark-skinned woman appeared in a flash, crouching on the roof above him. "You're late. Kisuke."

Urahara came out from under the roof to look up at her properly. She glared down at Urahara. "Does it please you to make me report to you?" She said snappily.

"My, my. How could I ever imagine bossing around the great Goddess of Flash?"

Yoruichi snorted. Then they both turned serious. "How's the situation?" Urahara asked.

"Not good. They're preparing." Swiveling a golden eye down to Urahara, Yoruichi asked, "How's the boy doing? Have you figured out who... or what he is yet?"

Urahara nodded. "Yes, and the answer isn't good either. Are there any life-givers or creators among the arrancar? I asked Grimmjow-san and Neliel-san, but neither of them knew. Grimmjow mentioned a puppeteer among the Espada… but he said he didn't know exactly what his powers were."

Yoruichi looked thoughtful. "A puppet, eh? And you want to know if there's a puppeteer among the Espada? I'll get on it. They have three new Espada. Is the puppeteer one of them or the other seven, I wonder…"

"Probably among the other seven, because Grimmjow-san knew about him." Urahara pointed out drily.

Shooting Urahara a dirty look, Yoruichi mewled, "Yeah, you're smart. I got that." She stood up and brushed off her pants. "I'm off now. Don't go causing any unnecessary messes now." She warned him before disappearing once more.

…

Glancing back at Ururu's prone form, Kyo silently apologized to the only person who had been remotely kind to him since he came this world. She had only been doing what she had been told.

Nevertheless, he turned his back on her. He had to find Karin. Silently but swiftly, he left the shop.

…

When Urahara Kisuke returned to his shop, he found the two kids knocked unconscious and broken ropes surrounding an empty chair. He held up one rope, staring at it ruefully. Regretfully, he commented, "I should have had his reiatsu sealed…"

He knelt beside Ururu and placed a hand on her forehead, healing her. Her eyes opened, and she sat suddenly upright. "He…" She turned to Urahara, eyes pleading. "He…"

The shopkeeper patted her head. "Don't worry about it, Ururu. He'll probably go to just one place." _'The Kurosaki Clinic is packed full of shinigami as well. They'll be able to handle him on their own.'_

…

Once again, Karin stood in her spirit world. But she was alone. No Koutetsu. Not even her hollow form, which she felt bizarrely forlorn about.

'_What the hell am I here for, if not to see them?'_ Karin said out loud. Once she heard her own voice, she felt a little better, though not by much. She scoured the area for any traces of spiritual pressure. She felt none. So she wandered around the streets, still keeping her spiritual radar on end. Finally, she felt a spiritual energy exactly like hers in a nearby place. It was weak, but there.

She flash stepped over there, and found herself in front of what looked like a huge abandoned warehouse. The spiritual pressure came from in there. Without hesitating, Karin walked towards the equally huge smooth door and pushed at it. It didn't budge. Frowning, she tried hooking her fingers under the door and pulling it up, to see if it worked in the same way as a garage door. It didn't. Standing up, she muttered, _'This is __**my**__ spiritual world, so why won't it open up? Did I subconsciously seal myself off of this place? Do I have to say a passcode? Like open sesame?'_

She sighed when that didn't work either. It's not like she had expected it to, but…

Then she tried calling out, _'Koutetsu? Are you in there? Can this door open from the inside?'_

There was no answer. _'Well, if the existing door doesn't work, I'll just make another one.'_ Karin tried to summon Koutetsu's blades. But the comforting warm metal didn't ever materialize into her hands. Blinking down at her hands, Karin tried once again.

It still didn't work.

At the end of her rope, Karin tried to use spiritual pressure to break open the wall. She punched, kicked, even head-butted the wall, but all her attempts proved fruitless. The wall wasn't even dented. Despairing, Karin was reduced to merely slapping the wall and shouting Koutetsu's name.

'_**Need help there?'**_

Karin whipped around, almost glad to hear her hollow's voice. Sure enough, the hollow stood in the sky, looking faintly amused.

'_You're here!'_ Karin exclaimed, relieved. _'Why can't I open this? Is it really Koutetsu in there?'_

The hollow rolled her eyes, lip curling. _**'Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just someone else in your spiritual world, with the same spiritual pressure as you.'**_

The hollow's sarcasm didn't faze Karin.

'_Well, if Koutetsu's in there, why won't he come out? Can't he hear me?'_

Hollow Karin folded her arms._** 'Well, he's trapped in there, isn't he? By your 'Master,' Aizen.'**_

Karin had forgotten how her hollow self could get under her skin. She ground out, _'He's __**not **__my master.'_

'_**I suppose not, now that you have your memories back. But he's still trapped in there.'**_ She shrugged. _**'So'll you, in this world, unless you can get him out.'**_ Then she grinned nastily and extended an arm, which diffused into the air. _**'I, on the other hand…'**_

…

The three people, though situated in completely different places in the room, were all staring at the same place, the same person, lying unconscious.

Yuzu sat on the pink bed across from Karin's, biting her fingernails out of nervousness. Leaning against the wall, Ichigo absently said, "Stop that, Yuzu. It's not a good habit."

Stopping mid-bite, Yuzu whirled on her older brother. "How can you be so calm about this, Onii-chan?" She turned back to her unconscious twin. "She's been like this for over an hour now."

Meanwhile, Toushirou sat on the ground, silently cursing himself; if he only knew what the was wrong with Karin… Had the pain Karin went through really been caused by his kiss? But why? How? He bowed his head, trying in vain to figure out what was going on.

A movement caught his eye. His head snapped up as Karin sat up in bed.

"Ugh…" She groaned, putting a hand to her head.

Immediately, all three were at her side.

"Karin-chan!"

"We were worried. You okay?"

Karin's hair covered her face. When she replied, her voice sounded somewhat strange. "I'm better than okay."

Her spiritual pressure also felt odd somehow, Toushirou realized. Almost like… But when she looked up, her face was normal.

"Ichi-nii. Yuzu."

Ichigo's eyes widened at the form of address. Karin hadn't called him by that affectionate nickname since she had lost her memories. Excited, he took hold of Karin's shoulders. "You remember? Us? Everything?"

Karin answered with a smile, "That's why I said I was better than okay."

Swinging her legs off the bed, she stretched. Looking down at her hands and flexing them, an odd grin spread across her face. Yuzu jumped into her arms, rejoicing at the return of her twin's memories. Ichigo too chimed in. "Oyaji'll be ecstatic!"

"I'll bake Karin-chan's favorite chocolate cake in celebration!" Yuzu dashed out of the room, to the kitchen.

Having learnt how Karin and Toushirou had feelings for each other, Ichigo looked briefly uncomfortable before he decided to give the two with some time alone, "I'm gonna tell Rukia and the others that you've gotten your memories back." Nevertheless, he shot Toushirou a warning look as he exited the room.

Which left Karin and Toushirou in the room together. Toushirou had remained silent the whole time. Warily, he said, "You have your memories back?"

Karin approached him and took his hands. "Yeah. I do. Weren't you listening?" She leaned her forehead against his. "And I remember everything that you did to allow… me… to defeat the hollow. And all the kisses…" She gave him a sly smile that made alarm bells go off in the back of Toushirou's mind. Had her eyes always been red?

But the alarm bells were immediately muffled when she kissed him; instinctively, he kissed back. To Toushirou's regret, she pulled back all too soon, with the same Cheshire cat smile.

"That's my thank you for returning my memories with the kiss earlier."

He stared at her, dazed. She playfully pushed the still-dazed Toushirou out the door. "Now, I need to take a shower. Why don't you go help Yuzu with that chocolate cake?"

As she closed the door and entered the adjoining bathroom, she pulled out the rubber band from her ponytail and shook her long black hair loose. She spied the mirror and the smile turned positively sinister. The sclera of her eyes turned black.

'_**He didn't notice, 'Queen.' Too bad. He obviously doesn't know you that well.'**_

'_What are you doing? What the hell are you trying to pull!'_ Karin's reflection – the real Karin – shouted, banging on the other side of mirror, as if she could break out of it.

Meanwhile the hollow took off her uniform and examined her flesh, apparently impressed. She put a hand to her ribcage. _**'Hm. I must have caused this scar.'**_ She grinned, apparently pleased with herself. In a conversational tone, she remarked, _**'This Toushirou of yours is a better kisser than I thought. He must have had lots of experience.' **_Turning her back to the mirror, she continued, _**'He's the one who trained you to defeat me, right?' **_She tossed a cruel smile back at Karin. _**'I think I'll take revenge for that.'**_

'_You won't get that far. You'll never keep this up. They'll notice sooner or later.' _Karin glared venomously at her hollow self through the mirror. _'You'll mess up.'_

'_**Oh?' **_The hollow turned back to the mirror and raised an eyebrow exactly the way Karin did whenever she heard something she disbelieved. Her sclera turned white again, and there was virtually no difference between her and the real Karin.

Her sclera reverting to black again, the hollow smirked at the Karin in the mirror, who was trembling with anger.

'_**Watch me.'**_

…

Karin's eyes shot open in her spiritual world. She had thought that the hollow would go mad and wreak physical havoc on the world, tearing everything apart. Not masquerade as her and wage a psychological war.

'_Damnit!' _She pounded her fists against the warehouse wall again. _'Koutetsu!'_

It was one mountain after another.

…

Kyo sprinted through the town, searching for traces of Karin's reiatsu.

'_Just a trace. __**Any**__ trace…!' _He thought desperately. Then he stopped in front of a large, sprawling structure with many windows. It had the barest traces of Karin's spiritual pressure. But the traces seemed stale. Old. Almost as if… she had been there several months ago.

But that couldn't be. It had been a month ago when he'd first been thrown out of the village, and until then, they'd never been separated.

A feeling of horror crept over Kyo, as if ice-cold fingers were making their way up his body. Had Urahara Kisuke told the truth?

"_You're not really her brother, are you?" _Akito's voice taunted him.  
_"You are not Karin-san's twin."_ Urahara informed him cut and dry.  
"_What do you have to prove that Karin is your sister?" _Ichigo had asked him.  
"_You _know_ Karin-san isn't your twin._" Urahara's voice insisted.

He grabbed his head. "Stop… STOP! Stop saying she isn't my sister…" Lurching over to a wire fence nearby, Kyo sagged to the ground. "I'm her brother… I have to be…" This became his mantra. "I'm her brother…"

But his eyes were wide and blank; absolutely crushed, as if his worst fears had been confirmed; as if he had been forced to believe something he didn't want to.

"_You know that you. Were. Created."_ Urahara's voice whispered in his ear.

Drawing his knees to his torso, Kyo buried his head into his arms, voices continuing to whisper in his head.

…

The next day, to Yuzu's surprise, Karin didn't protest too much when the gray skirt was brandished towards her. Though she raised an eyebrow at it, she put in on.

As they headed to school, Toushirou followed Karin at a distance. He continued to watch her back until the object of his ominous thoughts turned and said impatiently, "Hurry up Toushirou!"

He couldn't explain why he was so wary of Karin after she had woken up. She wasn't acting very differently. Except yesterday when they had been alone, he amended, recalling the kiss. Was Karin really that… sexy?

As he took longer strides to catch up with the twins, he tried to imagine the Karin from before it all – before the kidnapping, before she had lost her memories – coming onto him like that. Somehow, he couldn't imagine it. Normally, she would have either been aggressive, or very, very shy and embarrassed about it. Except she had managed to do it without being either yesterday; she had been, for lack of a better word, _seductive._

'_I could have sworn her eyes flashed red.'_ He narrowed his eyes. He probed her spiritual energy with his own. And her spiritual energy seemed more tinged with hollow-like properties than usual. Was it her _hollow…_?

But that wasn't possible. Before Ichigo had defeated his inner hollow, whenever the hollow took over, the mask had started forming, his sclera turning black.

Presently, Karin shot him a bright, toothy grin as they entered the school premise.

How could she be a hollow? Toushirou dismissed the thought.

…

Inside her spiritual world, Karin leaned back against the warehouse, dejected. _'She hasn't done anything drastic yet… but I don't know how long that'll last. I have to get Koutetsu out of here fast.'_

But that was the hundredth time she had said it. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't break into the warehouse.

Karin had come to the inevitable conclusion that Koutetsu's spirit had been trapped when Aizen had taken her memories away. Koutetsu was the root of all of her memories. It had been the mere matter of locking him away to lock away the rest of her memories. But once Karin had regained her memories, instead of setting Koutetsu free, she'd been recalled to her spirit world and trapped as well.

Confined inside her own mind, unable to control her actions, only able to watch. That was a grim thought. It was like having a multiple personality disorder.

Closing her eyes, Karin thought, _Koutetsu…_

'…**rin…'**  
Karin thought she heard something, but shrugged it off as her imagination.  
'**Karin.'**  
She should have known better. She had never been particularly outstanding in the imagination department.  
'**Karin!'**

Karin bolted upright.

**"Karin!" **It was definitely Koutetsu's voice.

Standing up and putting a hand on the wall she thought, _Koutetsu?_

'**Took you long enough! I've been calling you for ages!' **echoed Koutetsu's exasperated voice.

Karin said sheepishly, _'Oh. Sorry.'_

'**Has she left?'**

Karin took 'she' to mean her hollow self. _'Yes.' _she said grumpily. _'Long, long ago.'_

'**Good. Now let me out. I asked her – politely too – but she refused to help me.'**

Karin rolled her eyes, bringing to mind when Koutetsu had pounced on the hollow in his tiger form. _'Gee. I wonder why.'_

'**Save your sarcasm for someone who cares, Kurosaki. Lemme out of here.'**

'_If I could, I would've done it and had time to spare!' _Karin retorted.

'**What, you can't summon me?'**

'_I tried, but they won't materialize.'_ Karin grimaced; even someone with as little imagination as she could just envision Koutetsu banging his head against the wall.

'**You can do **_**anything**_** in you spiritual world. You just need to **_**try**_**.'**

'_I did!' _Karin protested.

Sounding world-weary, Koutetsu's voice echoed through her head. **'Try again. I'll talk you through it this time round.'** After a moment, his voice sounded again. **'Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.'**

'_This is almost like meditating.' _Karin muttered.

'**Not 'almost like.' It **_**is**_**. And be quiet. You need to focus. Namely, on the swords. Envision them.'**

Karin carefully blanked out her mind, except for what the swords looked like.

'**Remember every detail. The hilt. The guard. The width of the blades. The exact hue of crimson that they are.'**

Karin thought that was rather demanding, but she did so anyways; to her surprise, they came to mind easily, from the point of their blades to the end of their hilts.

'**Of course they come to your mind easily. They're part of your soul. And I thought I told you to focus.' **Koutetsu's voice severely cut through her mind.

Irritated that he could read her mind – though that was obvious because he was a part of her soul after all – Karin snapped back, _'Then will you stop telling me to focus?'_

She heard him sigh. But then he plowed on, **'Envision the swords. Then you have to make a strong resolve to cut through something. In this case, that 'something' would be the wall in front of you. Now try it.'**

Karin closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, just as Koutetsu had instructed. Then she recalled the swords; every detail. She imagined slashing the wall in front of her, and before she knew it, the wall before her had fallen to the force of two swords, which had already disappeared.

She saw Koutetsu in tiger form in front of her. Sides heaving, Koutetsu's tiger form limped forward and collapsed in front of Karin.

'_You're hurt?' _Karin asked, dismayed, and knelt beside him.

'…**I'm fine. Just weak.' **With an effort, the tiger turned back into the red haired boy. This time, he wore not the gray uniform of her school, but a simple red robe resembling a yukata.

Though Karin wanted nothing more than to reclaim her body immediately, Koutetsu came first. _'Why are you like this? Did your imprisonment weaken you?'_

Reluctantly, Koutetsu said, **'It was because of my proximity to my copy.'**

Puzzled, Karin repeated, _'Your copy.'_

Koutetsu clarified, **'He's incomplete, but he still relied on my power, enough to drain me, even if it wasn't intentional. And I couldn't even prevent it because I was trapped in there.' **He jerked his head towards the crumbling warehouse in disgust. Seeing that Karin still didn't understand, he explained, **'My incomplete copy. Kyuu.'**

Kyuu. Kyo's soul weapon.

'_A copy?' _Karin was even more confused than ever.

**'Anyways, ask your 'boyfriend' about it later, maybe he'll explain it to you in more detail.' **Kyo said wearily, as he leaned against a nearby wall. Karin was too worried to even bother denying the 'boyfriend' comment. Closing his eyes, Kyo said, **'I'll recover if I rest. Don't worry about me and go rescue your body from that harpy.'**

But Karin continued to stare at him intently, and sensing that she wasn't leaving, Koutetsu opened his eyes a sliver. **'If you don't want me to kick you out by force – which'll use up more of my energy by the way – then get out, before your hollow does any serious damage. Didn't she say she was going to get revenge on Toushirou?'**

…

By this time, the hollow Karin had already returned from school. She changed out of the uniform into a rather low-cut tank top (found only after digging through Karin's drawers twice) and a pair of shorts showing off her lean, leggy figure. With a devious smile, she murmured, _**'I wonder what Karin's precious Toushirou is up to?' **_Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a penknife. Unsheathing it, she tested the point on her finger, flipped it up and snatched it out of midair. _**'Killing device, check. Body reflexes, check. Perfect.'**_ Sheathing and pocketing the knife, she sauntered to the guest room where Toushirou was staying. Seeing the open door, she raised an eyebrow.

Cocking her head, she stared at Toushirou's back. _**'I could just stab him right here, right now.'**_ She thought to herself while fingering the knife in her pocket. Then her mouth twisted into a smirk. _**'Then again, that wouldn't **_**nearly **_**be as fun.' **_She knocked on the open door to get Toushirou's attention.

"Anybody named Toushirou in?"

Toushirou looked up from his Soul Society cell phone. He did a double take when he saw what Karin was wearing. Hastily, he looked away and grumbled, "What are you doing here?"

Without waiting for an invitation, Karin slinked in. "Just wondering what you were up to." She sat on the far side of his bed innocently, contrary to her sneaky grin. Looking curiously at the cell phone he held, she asked, "So. What_ are_ you doing, Mr. Tenth Division Captain?"

Glancing at the cell phone one last time, Toushirou shut the phone with a snap and tucked it away. "Reporting to Soul Society." He looked back at Karin, who suddenly looked a lot closer to him than before.

"Oh? Then did that report include_ me_?" With every word, she crept an inch closer to where Toushirou sat on the bed.

Looking nervously at the door, Toushirou gulped and said in a forcedly calm voice, "Actually, yes. That your memories had returned, and that I would be awaiting the next orders…"

"I see." She was inches away from him.

Swallowing, Toushirou tried to subtly scoot away from Karin. "D-don't you have homework to do?" He tried not to look down at her cleavage. There was only so much a boy could take…

"Some things are more important than homework." Karin had closed the distance and was practically on his lap.

"We… shouldn't be doing this… People might – "

"Might see?" Karin finished coyly for him. When he nodded frantically, Karin stretched out a leg and kicked the door, which snapped shut. "There. Problem solved." She brought her leg back slowly, giving Toushirou a good long look at it.

Seeing Karin's slender legs, Toushirou grit his teeth. _'Get a grip on yourself, Hitsugaya Toushirou… Keep a tight leash on your self-control.'_ But the 'leash' was already taut to the point of breaking.

Leaning her face closer to his, Karin dark red eyes burned with desire and she bit her lip seductively. That was the last straw. Whatever threads of Toushirou's remaining self-restraint snapped, and he brought down Karin's mouth to his in a bruising kiss.

Grinning against his lips, the hollow Karin slipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out the knife.

Then the real Karin opened her eyes.

She took inventory of what she was doing. Toushirou had a hand on the back of her neck and was kissing her fiercely. They were in a _very_ compromising position. And worst of all, she held a dagger in her hand.  
Horrified, Karin pulled back.

Next thing she did was drop the knife and slap Toushirou.

...

...

A/N: Ouch. I wonder why she did that. Yeah... I found this chapter reaaaally skin-crawling to write. D: Hopefully, ya'll enjoy it... T_T


	31. To Belong

**Chapter 31: To Belong**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

…

**Chapter 31**

To Belong

…

Holding his cheek, Toushirou looked from the dagger and then to at Karin. He finally put the pieces together and realized his hunch had been right after all.

His suspicions were even more confirmed when his blue-green eyes me her onyx ones. How could he have ever forgotten that shade of grey-black, even while they sparkled with anger? Even when she was on the verge of killing him, Toushirou thought she looked alluring, with her lips red and swollen from the long kiss they had shar... Cutting off that thought, Toushirou groaned internally, _'What is __**wrong**__ with me… Am I fated to be attracted to insane women or something?'_

It took an enormous effort for Toushirou to appear casual as he said, "I suppose I was kissing your hollow form just now?"

He immediately realized that he had made a mistake as he hastily dodged getting hit by Karin again. Eyes widening, he held up both hands in a typical 'I surrender' motion. "Whoa there. Easy now."

But again, that had the opposite effect than what he had intended. Instead of calming down, Karin got angrier instead, and swung her fists harder at him.

"Yes, that _was_ my hollow form! But you didn't even stop to think _once,_ 'wait, Karin doesn't act like that,' did you? _Did you?_"

Actually, he had, but Toushirou couldn't say it without making it look like he was giving some lame excuse. Which was just as well because Karin plowed on, "Though," Toushirou barely dodged a punch that she aimed at his shoulder, "I suppose that's better," she attempted to strike his side, "than actually kissing me even though you _knew_ it was really my hollow form."

That struck dangerously close to what Toushirou had been doing… Eyeing the dagger on the ground nervously, because in her state now she might actually _use _it, Toushirou hedged, "And… why would that be…?"

If Karin were a bull, she would have seen red. She finally landed a punch on his gut and Toushirou doubled over, grimacing. Karin punched _hard_.

"Because that would make you the biggest asshole in the WORLD, trying to take advantage of me while I have no say in what is happening, is why!" she shouted.

She took another swing at him, but Toushirou caught her wrists. "That is _not_ the case." he said firmly. _'How could you think that of me?' _His eyes silently conveyed, hurt.

Though Karin still glared at him, she calmed down somewhat and no longer seemed to carry (much) intentions of attacking him. Letting go of her wrists, Toushirou stooped to pick up the knife. Examining it as if it had just proclaimed his death sentence, he sighed heavily and sat down on the bed.

"I assume that your inner hollow was seducing me with the ulterior motive to kill me?" Karin didn't answer, and instead stared at him with hard eyes. Toushirou turned away and muttered, "Gee. And here I was, thinking that I had _finally_ gotten you to see me as a man…"

Though he said it quietly, Karin nevertheless heard and reddened, though whether from anger or from embarrassment, Toushirou had no idea.

About to storm out of the room, Karin snatched the knife from Toushirou's hands, and cursed loudly as it cut her hand in the process. Toushirou was on his feet and beside her in a flash. Picking up her injured hand, he inspected the cut on the muscle of her thumb and put blue-glowing fingers to it. At his cool touch, the wound healed.

"I should teach you some healing kidou." he murmured, keeping his hand on hers. "All the times you hurt yourself… you need it."

This made Karin look up into his turquoise eyes, earnestly looking down at her. For a brief moment, it seemed like they were going to kiss again. But the moment was broken as Karin jerked her hand out of his. She turned her back to him and was about to leave, before she paused in the doorway. _'…maybe he'll explain it to you in more detail.'_ Koutetsu had said.

Toushirou saw her pause, and his heart dared to hope...

Hesitantly, Karin asked him, "If asked you… about an incomplete copy of Koutetsu named Kyuu… would you be able to answer?"

What had he been expecting? Repressing his disappointment, Toushirou answered simply, "Yes. At least, as far as I understand it myself."

Suddenly he found himself face to face with Karin.

"Tell me. Tell me everything. Everything about Kyuu, Koutetsu… and Kyo… and me." Her eyes were set with determination.

Seeing the determination in her eyes, he said, "Why don't we go to the roof?

Up on the roof, they kept a distance, sitting in silence.

Finally, Toushirou stated. "You already know that Kyo was created."

Karin curtly said, "Yes."

But she wasn't as calm as that single word suggested, because she then took a shaky breath and spilled out, "I mean, now that I've regained my real memories, I'm not as…" she made a vague motion as she tried to find the right word, "screwed up over… Kyo not being my brother." She hung her head, as if she found the dark roof tiles fascinating. "But it's still a part of me. The Karin who was hurt beyond belief at the realization that Kyo wasn't her brother. Now she's as much a part of me as the Karin from before my memory loss was."

That statement was followed by a heavy silence.

"Then did you know that he was made from your own soul?" Toushirou asked quietly.

This was new information for Karin. "Huh…?"

"Caballero sampled your soul the first time we were attacked. Then he took that sample to someone who could give life. Kyo was beget of your soul. In the loosest term, he would be… the unintended other half of your soul."

Karin was speechless.

"So it'd stand to reason that Koutetsu would have been partially copied as well."

"S-so… Kyo…" Karin was stammering.

"He was given life. For you." Toushirou met her eyes with a burning intensity. "And for you, he broke free of the original purposes that his creator wanted him to follow."

It dawned on her. "That would… make him…"

"Yes." Toushirou broke eye contact and laced his fingers together, staring down at them instead. "It wasn't just fake. He really does treasure you." The last sentence squeezed painfully out of his throat. "Love you."

He'd wanted to say that last sentence. For himself. _I _love you, is what he'd wanted to say. Abruptly, Toushirou stood up.

Karin was still in too much shock to stop him.

Inside, Toushirou heaved a sigh and leaned against the wall. The house seemed stifling.

…

Karin stared up into the now dark sky speckled with lights. It was a simple, simple concept. Somebody, somewhere along the line, attained a sample of her soul, and from it, created Kyo. But Kyo had treasured…loved… her so much… he became his own person. So their time in Hueco Mundo hadn't been completely lies after all. He hadn't been lying.

"Kyo…" She breathed.

"I'm here."

Her breath caught, and Karin looked around, her eyes finally settling on a neighbor's rooftop. His back was to the moon so she couldn't see his face, but that silhouette was unmistakable.

"Kyo!" She cried out. Standing up, she started to go to him, but Kyo was quicker. Next thing she knew, he was in front of her. They embraced, and when they pulled back Karin started to ask, "How did you – "

Kyo anticipated what she was going to asked, and scratched his head rather sheepishly, "I escaped… followed your energy to school, and followed you back to this house."

The moon cast light on his face. Examining his face closely, it looked like he had dark circles, as if he hadn't slept well. "Did they treat you badly?" Karin asked, dismayed. "You look like you haven't slept for – "

Kyo laughed outright. "Yeah, well. It's been a few days since we came here… so since then, I haven't slept a wink."

She could tell that wasn't all. Had he found out? Was he still putting on a façade for her? Her heart – no, soul – squeezed at the thought. Making a decision, she took his hand. "Hey, let's go down to greet our family."

Taken aback, Kyo stuttered, "O…our…?"

Karin gave him a bright smile. "Yeah. Our family. They're my family, so that makes them your family too, right?"

As they jumped off the roof, Karin thought, _'I guess I _can_ lie when it really counts...'_

…

From the guest room, Toushirou felt the familiar spiritual presence enter the house.

"Che…"

She would probably try to protect him and, god forbid, lie. He snorted. Karin was a really terrible liar.

…

Karin led him through the front door, praying that her family would play along.

"Yuzu~! Look who I found! It's Kyo!"

Momentarily, Yuzu froze. Karin's eyes silently communicated to her. Understanding and hitching on a big smile for Kyo, Yuzu grabbed his hands, "Thank goodness! Kyo-kun!" Examining him with a critical eye, after a moment, she steered him over to the bathroom. "You need to shower! And you're all skin and bones! You're almost as skinny as Karin-chan." ("Hey, I have flesh and muscle, I'll have you know!) As she pushed Kyo into the bathroom she said, "I'll get you some of Onii-chan's fresh clothes for you to change into!"

Having said this, she turned gave Karin a sweeping glance. "Say… Karin-chan. Don't you usually wear… more clothes than that? Not that it looks weird or anything…"

Karin blinked. Slowly, she looked down and only just realized how scantily she was clad.

Flushing, Karin stormed back into her room. Furious, she shoved on an even larger t-shirt than normal, and jammed on _extremely _loose sweatpants. That hollow had serious trouble coming for her. She was lucky that Karin didn't just charge off to her spirit world and kill her right then and there.

Now that she was "properly" dressed, Karin went off to go find her father or brother. Her brother was out, so she found her father first, examining cells under a microscope.

"Beardy… I mean, Dad?"

Curious that Karin had called her something besides 'beardy' or 'old man' Isshin looked up from his work. _'This must be serious.' _"Karin?"

She met her father's gaze with a sharp eye. "You hid that Ichi-nii and I inherited our spiritual powers from you…"

Sighing, Isshin tilted his chair precariously back, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Gimme a break... One kid after another..." he grumbled. Then he stood up and ripped open his shirt, baring his hairy chest out in the open. "I'm ready! Give it your best shot!" He closed his eyes, as if he expected her to attack him.

Karin's jaw dropped. Under different circumstances, Karin might have really attacked him, but as it was, that was the last thing on her mind. She covered her face, but she couldn't unsee the traumatizing sight of her father's hirsute chest. "No! I don't mean that! Button up already! Stupid Beardy!" How he had the ability to annoy her so much, she didn't know.  
"I meant that if you treat Kyo like your own son, I'd call it even!"

Pausing in the motion of buttoning back up, Isshin looked at Karin. "What's Kyo go to do with it?" Then realizing what that entailed, Isshin's eyes widened. "Wait… you know? How much? You do know that he's not your brother now, right?"

Irritated at the questions, Karin said impatiently, "Nevermind that! Will you take it or leave it? I swear, I'll give you the cold shoulder… no, run away from home if you don't!"

She thought that was a rather ineffectual threat, but Isshin was on his knees anyways. "Nooo~ pleeease…. I'll do whatever you say!"

Too easy. It might have occurred to her that he was just humoring her, but Karin didn't care. Her dad was a man of his word.

"So family first, and work second." Karin switched off the light on his microscope. "Now get into the kitchen." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

Bemused, Isshin walked into the kitchen. There, he saw Kyo, dressed in Ichigo's clothes, with a towel around his neck, eating miso soup.

"Oh, hello Daddy!" Yuzu chirped, setting another bowl of rice in front of Kyo, who gobbled it up as if he hadn't eaten in days. Which he probably hadn't.

There was a silence, as Isshin and Kyo stared at each other. Though Isshin had seen Kyo, Kyo had been unconscious then, so he only recognized Isshin as the man from the family picture. The silence stretched on uncomfortably. Karin elbowed Isshin hard. Snapping out of his shock, he swept up Kyo into a great big bear hug. "Kyooo! Welcome back!"

Though Karin thought that he was rather overdoing it, Kyo seemed to enjoy it. He had a tentative smile on his face, which turned into a laugh when his wet hair was ruffled by Isshin. She looked on at the joyful scene of her twin, her father, and _another twin_ – Kyo – laughing and playing around.

Then the front door swung open and Ichigo, followed by Rukia, came in. He took in the scene. Karin could have sworn the temperature dropped below zero.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. He pointed at Kyo and said accusingly, "What the hell is going on? Why is he here?" His voice elevated. "And why the hell is he wearing my clothes?"

Karin was there in a flash, clamping a hand over Ichigo's mouth and nose, grinning dangerously. "Oh, we all know you don't really get along your younger brother, _Ichi-nii_, but that's hardly the point now. He's come back from the dead, just like me! RIGHT?"

Seeing the scary look on Karin's face, Rukia hastily nodded. Ichigo held out for longer, but when it looked like he would run out of breath, he finally nodded.

Letting go, Karin, turned around. "Eheh. Sorry about that, Kyo. Ichi-nii can be rather insensitive, even to people who don't remember their pasts - "

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Kyo were silently discoursing, sparks practically flying.

'_What's going on?'_  
'_I'll explain later._'  
_'You'd better, you little - '  
'Okay! I will so just wait!'_

Accepting that for now, Ichigo changed the subject discussion. "I'm starved. What's for dinner?"

Having come downstairs, Toushirou said, "Yes. I would like to know that as well." Except he wasn't talking about dinner. He was staring straight at Kyo.

…

After dinner, Ichigo, Isshin, Kyo, and much to Kyo's consternation, Toushirou, were holed up Ichigo's room.

Yuzu, Karin and Rukia had wanted to go in as well, but they had been shut out on account of it being 'men's talk.' Huffily, (with Karin kicking her dad and Rukia stomping on Ichigo's foot as they left) they went down to eat ice cream in the kitchen.

Kyo took a deep breath, preparing to pull on the tail of the elephant in the room.

"I know what I am."

Toushirou looked on with little surprise, but Ichigo spluttered, "Wh-what? So you know – "

"- that I'm an artificial human?" Kyo shot him a dirty look. "Karin was right. You _are_ insensitive."

Straight to the point as usual, Toushirou said, "What does that have to do with all that fuss that Karin was causing downstairs? Don't you know she knows about your identity?"

Miserably, Kyo nodded. "But what she doesn't know is that _I_ know about my…" he swallowed painfully, "…identity now. And I didn't have the heart to tell her that I did. She was trying so hard. And I know she's a terrible liar, but she lied... for me."

The men sat in silence.

"That's for the better." Isshin decided. "It would hurt her if she knew that you did."

"…Then we have to pretend that you don't know the truth?" Ichigo grumpily. He still seemed to hold a grudge against Kyo for taking his 'only brother' spot from him.

Looking embarrassed, Kyo stood up and asked Isshin, "Um… Mister, where can I sleep – "

Isshing clapped him on the shoulder. "Kyo, you can call me father now! You have a variety of choices; Oyaji, Beardy, Otou-san. I'll even give you the special privilege of calling me 'Tou-chan!'"

Hastily, Kyo said, "I'll go with Tou-san or Oyaji, thank you."

Exiting the door, Isshin threw back, "Go with whatever you're comfortable with. And you can stay in Toushirou's room, right Toushirou?" He left before Toushirou could respond.

Kyo asked Ichigo, "Is he always like this?"

Rubbing his neck, embarrassed, Ichigo muttered, "More or less."

Ichigo looked at Kyo, and to his surprise, the boy was smiling ruefully.

"I guess that's the difference between fabricated memories and real ones. Karin grew up under… Oyaji… with that warmth…" Kyo looked sadly at the family picture that Ichigo had on his bedside table.

After regarding Kyo for a moment, Ichigo suddenly slapped him on the back. "Like it or not, now you're a part of this family." He flashed Kyo a grin. "So back straight! No slouching in the Kurosaki household."

Though surprised at first, a grin slowly spread across Kyo's face.

…

Titiritero was most at peace, (which wasn't much) when he was holed up in his workshop. Any lower level arrancar would find himself headless if they interrupted him in this zone. He flicked a splinter of wood off of his current pet project.

Lately, all of his creations had been aimed to hinder Aizen. Like this one? It was made to destroy Aizen's favorite puppet – therefore Titiritero's least favorite, not to mention that she wasn't one of his creations. She was always whining after her 'Aizen-taichou.' Titiritero hadn't liked it when she was staying at the Kyoto mansion, but now even Las Noches, the sanctuary of arrancar? She was defiling their palace, with her body infused with broken remains of the H -

His line of thought was interrupted by a joyful ripple of water.

Titiritero's cave was filled with various woodworks and their respective pools. Some pools were murky, others were opaque, and still others pitch black.

Yet Titiritero glanced at one particular pool, that had emitted the aura of joy. It shimmered; a thing that happened rarely – if ever. The pool was crystal clear, despite the fact that there was no inner lighting in this place. The clarity of the pool depended on its creation's mood. And this level of clarity… this was the best mood he had seen any of his creations in yet.

Titiritero always kept tabs on his creations. Especially a masterpiece like his most outstanding completed work yet. Why, he had been so well made that the puppet had broken free of his metaphorical strings.

At least, he had free will on his short-term decision-making. They would have to watch and see if his wild card would be willing to go to extremes to defeat Aizen. Probably would, given enough incentive.

Maybe he would always give his creations relative freedom, to see if they were all capable of going as far as this one. That would be interesting. The corners of Titiritero's mouth twisted up. Almost – but not quite – in the mood to hum, Titiritero whittled away a little more of a finger, part of the hand that would be used to strangle the neck of that flat-voiced "queen."

…

Karin woke up happier than she had been in ages.

Putting on her normal uniform – gray _pants_ and blazer – Karin whistled cheerfully as she prepared for school.

Sure, all that adventure had been fun, but it hadn't been exactly _relaxing_ to defeat hollows, be kidnapped, lose memories, have strange dreams, and on top of that deal with all those confusing feelings… Karin sobered when her mind reached 'feelings.' _'I can sort out my feelings later.'_ she thought as she dusted off her uniform.

Going up to see Kyo, she spotted Toushirou dressed smartly in his Karakura High uniform. Karin was tempted to give him the cold shoulder, but he _had _told her about Kyo. So she asked him, (rather magnanimously, too, she thought) "How's Kyo doing?"

Giving her an inscrutable look with his sea-green eyes, Toushirou replied, "He has the uniform on, but he's... embarrassed. Something about the pants being too tight."

"Oh for the… I would understand if I were a _boy_ forced to wear a _skirt_ but…" She hopped past Toushirou up the remaining two steps and banged on the door. "Oi~ Kyo! Get out! I'm sure it doesn't look _that_ bad."

She didn't hear what Kyo said, but the door reluctantly swung open. His hair looked a little ruffled, as if he'd been trying to tame it and it had come back with a vengeance. Refraining from bursting out in laughter, Karin ruffled his hair, and strangely, it lay somewhat flat again.

"Just be natural." She grinned.

As they headed down for breakfast, she thought about how many strings her old man had to pull to get Kyo into the school. It wasn't like he had some strange memory device (here she shot Toushirou a nasty look) to just magically get in.

Spotting her look, Toushirou asked, "What?"

Karin swung her head away. "Nothing." She replied rather crabbily.

Toushirou suppressed another sigh. She had been cold to him since yesterday, which was understandable, if he said so himself. But what was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he'd _asked_ the hollow to come onto him.

He blindly stabbed his chopsticks into some random food. If someone asked him later what he'd eaten for breakfast, he wouldn't be able to answer, as his mind was on yesterday's events all throughout breakfast.

What had he been thinking? Just because they had shared one kiss – the other three didn't count, as Karin hadn't been her normal self for those, what with losing her memory and being taken over by her hollow – it had been ridiculous to think it meant anything. A single kiss, no matter how wonderful, meant nothing.

He had blown it.

As they stood up to go to school, Yuzu asked, "Ah, Karin-chan! This Saturday's your soccer game, isn't it?"

"Oh crap! I forgot about that. Wow." Checking the calendar, Karin said, "That's already tomorrow. Shoot." She turned to Toushirou, and forgetting to be cold to him, asked, "You'll be at this Saturday's match?"

At this casual interaction, Toushirou heart swelled - slightly - with hope. But before he could nod, Kyo interrupted, "What's soccer?" Toushirou glared at him, but Kyo didn't seem to notice.

Karin spent the whole way to school explaining to Kyo what soccer was.

…

Urahara exhaled deeply and put the phone down. He had just spoken with Isshin, who had informed him in no uncertain terms that he would take in Kyo.

It seemed that Kyo had merged in with the Kurosaki family after all. Well, maybe it was for the better. Urahara hadn't sensed any ill-intentions from Kyo anyways. The boy had even left Ururu and Jinta alive, even though he could have easily killed them.

With an almost undetectable swish, Yoruichi appeared from behind him.

"Kisuke."

"Is it time?"

Coming up beside him, she nodded. "Tomorrow."

…

School ended relatively safely that day, and the soccer team gathered at the field for a pep talk.

Kyo followed them and stood in the stands, curious.

Coach Sasaki stood like a sergeant, with his feet shoulder width apart and arms crossed. "Now, I want to see your best play out there tomorrow! We're up against Mori High! We can't afford any mistakes!"

"Yes sir!" All the team members (save for Toushirou) shouted.

"We'll be starting out with the Playmaker formation, but I've heard the opponent gotten new offensive midfielders, so we may have to adjust halfway through."

"Yes sir!"

"Now rest up for tomorrow!" The coach clapped twice to signal dispersal. The team members saluted, and scattered.

As Karin was about to leave, Hiko put a hand on her shoulder and jerked his head towards Kyo. "Who's he? He's been looking at you the whole time."

Head turning to the stands, Karin spotted Kyo and waved, who waved back. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she answered Hiko's question, "He's my triplet."

Hiko's tried to refrain from looking completely astounded, but failed. "Huh? But I've never – "

Karin had been answering that question for the whole day, so by now, the lie came easily, if not rather quickly. "Yeah, well, he's been abnormally shy since he was young, so he was homeschooled. And if people didn't ask, Yuzu and I wouldn't talk about it either."

Eyeing Kyo dubiously, Hiko said, "Oh."

Seta seemed to notice Kyo as well and came over. "Hey Kurosaki, who's that kid? He looks a lot like you. What is he, a male version of you?"

For the thousandth time, Karin thought Seta was way _too_ observant; he had struck too close to home for comfort. Hiding her nervousness behind a rather poor poker face, Karin said mechanically, "That would be because he's my triplet." In order to escape from the situation, Karin yelled, "Oi! Toushirou! Kyo! Let's head home! I bet Yuzu'll be waiting for us with something tasty!"

Seta and Hiko looked at each other. "Why do I get the feeling she's hiding something from us...?"

Sato came up behind them and commented belatedly, "Wow. That kid looks a lot like Kuro-chan."

…

When the three arrived home, sure enough, there was a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen. Karin closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"Mmm. If these aren't Yuzu's snickerdoodles, I'll eat my nose."

Kyo raised an eyebrow at her. "Please don't, Karin... I'm sure all of us like your face the way it is. Imagine two huge holes where your nose is."

Casting him a superior look, Karin said loftily, "It just means that I'm that sure of what I'm talking about."

Sure enough, Yuzu had made snickerdoodles, and Karin didn't have to eat her nose. But Yuzu herself wasn't home, leaving only a note attached to the plate of snickerdoodles on the kitchen table. Judging from how the plastic wrap covering the snickerdoodles were steamed but not yet condensed, it hadn't been long since she'd left.

Puzzled, Karin picked up the note and read out loud, "'_Karin-chan, I've made some snacks for you guys. I'm going out and I probably won't be back in time for dinner, so take care of dinner by yourselves, okay?_'" Further bemused, Karin looked at the clock on the wall. "But it's only 2:30. What could she have gone to do that she thinks she won't be finished by dinnertime?"

She looked at Toushirou and Kyo as if they could answer her question. But they both shrugged.

…

Meanwhile, Yuzu stood in front of the candy shop. She had a determined look on her face, not unlike the expression Karin had back when she had asked Urahara to teach her.

Ururu peeked out at her through the sliding door, as Jinta had shouted (with red cheeks) he was too busy to see 'the goddess.' Busy with exactly what, Ururu didn't know, and why he had called Yuzu 'the goddess' eluded her even further. Yet it didn't change the fact that she saw Yuzu still standing there with her hands gripping the sides of her skirt.

"Kisuke-san. She's still there."

Tapping his fan against the side of his face, Urahara Kisuke said, "My. She's a stubborn one. Well, she's a Kurosaki after all." Putting his fan down, he declared, "Alright. Let's see what she wants, then. Though I think I already know." _'And I can't give it to her.'_

…

…

A/N: Hmm. I wonder what Yuzu wants…?  
This is more of a transition (aka filler) chapter. Therefore it's shorter.

And I would understand Toushirou's line of thought if Karin were the type to play fast and loose. But she doesn't strike me as that type… not to mention I didn't make her that type of character in this story. =_= (or at least, I didn't intend to.)


	32. Re:Shaken Up

**Chapter 32: Re:Shaken Up**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: another shameless touting of my fanart of Karin. Not from any particular story, just how I imagined her to look in the future. ^^ crystallinex .deviantart gallery/3221235#/d3d29db [get rid of the spaces around '.deviantart.']

…

**Chapter 32**

Re:Shaken Up

…

Finally admitted into the interior beyond the candy shop, Yuzu sat in front of Urahara in silence, with steaming cups of tea in front of each.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Yuzu-san. I am Urahara Kisuke."

Yuzu replied, "I already know who you are, Urahara-san." She paused before adding, "Indirectly, it was you who made me realize everything."

Smiling enigmatically, Urahara said, "I see you've found out about everything."

"Yes." Yuzu said quietly.

Urahara took a sip of his tea. "…So. What can this humble shopkeeper assist you with, Yuzu-san?"

Gazing at the teacup before her, Yuzu started, "It took a lot of courage to come here. When I was younger, I was jealous of Onii-chan and Karin-chan for being able to see spirits. But now I like my ordinary life." She was quiet for the longest time. But then she looked up,

"But I just can't stand it anymore. Seeing them suffer, and not being able to do anything about it." She looked up.

"Is there any way I can get spiritual power?"

Urahara regarded her over his cup. Then he set the teacup down. "Unfortunately, there is no way for you to gain any spiritual powers."

"…Are you just saying that because you're afraid to involve me?"

Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Urahara admitted, "Frankly, that's partially it, but it's not all. It's because you simply _can't_. If you haven't developed any spiritual powers by now, it's likely you'll never do so."

Yuzu looked disbelieving. Seeing her disbelief, Urahara explained, "As of now, everybody in your family has spiritual powers. Except yourself. In the normal way of things, you, too, should have grown in that aspect, seeing as how you interact regularly with high spiritual energy." Looking away, he said, "Yet you stay essentially powerless."

Yuzu was crushed. Bowing her head, Yuzu whispered, "So… there's no way I can help…?"

Taking another drink from his cup, Urahara said, "I did not say that. I am saying that you are a highly unusual case."

Confused, Yuzu looked up.

"I cannot be sure until I run some tests, but it seems like you are a _*reiyokujin._"

Yuzu blinked as she picked apart the kanji. "Spirit…seal… person?" She sounded puzzled.

Urahara scratched his neck. "Well, literally, a 'spiritual suppressor.'"

"What does that mean?" Yuzu asked warily.

Urahara elaborated, "It means that you have the unique ability to suppress spiritual energy around you. Right now, it's limited to you, but if trained, it could be valuable in battle."

Even though Yuzu was normally smart, she didn't understand a thing that this shopkeeper said. First a 'spiritual suppressor' then 'useful in battle?'

Whipping his fan open to hide a delighted grin, Urahara gave her a hint. "Think of how useful it would be to block the enemy's spiritual pressure, in the midst of battle."

Yuzu's eyes widened.

***A/N: Yes, I made that word up.**

…

Try as he might, Toushirou could not get Karin alone. She stuck to Kyo like a burr, showing him how to work the TV, the phone, computer and other things that he hadn't encountered in Hueco Mundo. This made Toushirou resent the faux twin even more. He also had the feeling that Karin was avoiding him on purpose.

He mentally slapped himself. _'After what you did to her? Of course she would avoid you, you dolt!'_ So Toushirou settled for just keeping an eye on the two from a loveseat that he occupied alone.

Meanwhile, Kyo had long realized that Toushirou wanted some time alone with Karin. It had already been several hours since they had returned from school, but Toushirou hadn't said a word.

Only half paying attention to what Karin was saying about computers, Kyo judged the silver-haired boy simmering silently and glaring at them. No. Specifically, Kyo himself. Toushirou was _watching_ Karin, but _glaring_ at Kyo.

The shinigami was usually composed – cold, even – but something seemed to flare within him whenever a situation concerned Karin. _'Either he really hates her, or he really cares about her.' _After how Toushirou had hugged her upon first sight, he was inclined to think the latter. Kyo turned to look at Karin. She was consciously ignoring Toushirou, just as intentely as Toushirou was watching her.

Though he didn't know what had taken place between the two, there was obviously a misunderstanding involved. And he could see that both were miserable. And he was caught in between, used as Karin's fodder for Toushirou's wrath. And Toushirou's glare was starting to make Kyo really uncomfortable.

Finally deciding upon a choice of action, Kyo stood up in the middle of Karin's explanation of the iPod.

Surprised, Karin asked, "Kyo? What's wrong?"

Kyo turned and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm just hungry. There's a convenience store nearby, right?"

Dropping the iPod on the couch, Karin stood up as well. "I'll go with you."

Taking her by the shoulders, Kyo sat her back down on the couch. "You don't trust me by myself? I'll have you know that I've already figured out how the currency works here."

Kyo looked over to Toushirou. "Any requests?"

After a moment of silence, Toushirou reluctantly said, "If there's any amanatto…"

Forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at him, Karin interrupted, "Pssh, _amanatto_? You think that's a _meal_?"

Toushirou's temper flared. "I don't – "

Karin stood up again, rolling up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. "_I'll_ go buy the damn food. Stuff from the convenience store isn't as good as Yuzu's cooking, but at least I'm familiar with the better brands. There's rice in the rice cooker, so does_ donburi_ sound good to you guys?"

Kyo's idea was _not_ going according to plan. So much for his going to the convenience store and leaving the two alone with each other to work things out. Thinking of a different idea instead, Kyo sat back down on the couch. "Oh, well, if you insist, dear twin, by all means. Why don't you take Toushirou with you? You know, just in case you need another pair of arms. Plus, it's almost dark out."

Toushirou, at this, realized what Kyo was trying to do, and mentally slapped his forehead. _'Figures he'd be just as bad at lying as Karin is…' _But he felt his resentment towards Kyo ebb away, replaced instead by gratitude.

Karin frowned at the inference that she couldn't protect herself, but Kyo's lie seemed to go over smoothly. Maybe being a bad liar herself made her bad at detecting lies.

Without further comment, she jammed on her sneakers, grabbed her wallet and went out the front door. Putting on his own shoes, Toushirou followed her.

It was an awkward walk, to say the least; the two walked in complete silence, Toushirou careful to maintain a certain distance from Karin.

They arrived at the convenience store. With a jolt, Toushirou realized that this was the very same convenience store he had always bought riceballs and crackers from, back when Karin had been hollowfying.

The same thought seemed to have occured to Karin as well; she looked significantly more uncomfortable than before, making an unnecessary show of selecting several packages of food.

And instead of using a basket, Karin shoved the packages of frozen food into Toushirou's arms. He winced. Karin was punishing him, he knew. But he wished she would do it in another way.

Then, thinking of her giving him the cold shoulder gave him a pang, and he decided that being made to hold frozen foods wasn't that bad after all. Not compared to her pointed rejection of his presence.

After a while, he realized that Karin had apparently decided to buy Yuzu's groceries as well, as well as she could at a convenience store, anyways. Toushirou watched as the food slowly piled up in his arms, until it was a teetering tower of both frozen and non-perishable foods and snacks. He carefully kept the precarious balancing act as they finally made their way to the line. By the time they made it out of the convenience store, night had already fallen.

Karin seemed to take pity on Toushirou and carried several bags on the way back. Toushirou's thoughts were whirring; Kyo had given them this opportunity to talk alone. It was unlikely he would get another chance.

So he opened his mouth to talk.

"Karin – "

"Toushirou – "

Both had spoken at the same time. They glanced at each other and immediately looked away, embarrassed.

Toushirou said first, "You go ahead."

Karin bit her lip and frowned a little, as if she were trying to decide how to phrase what she wanted to say. But she had never been one for fancy words, and it was too late to start now. So best to just be direct. "Toushirou…" She slowed down her walking pace a little. "I'm sorry."

Whatever Toushirou had expected, it hadn't been that. He halted mid step. Karin too, stopped walking. Quietly, he asked Karin, "What for?"

Her back was to him, so he couldn't see her face expression. "For everything. For venting my anger at you. For expecting you to tell the difference between my hollow and me."

Dropping the groceries that he held, Toushirou strode over to Karin and hugged her from behind.

"I'm taking advantage of your hands being full." he admitted. "But _I_ should be the one to apologize. For not being sure of whether she was your hollow or you." He words were spoken into her hair, causing them to be muffled. "To be honest, I was hoping it was you. I wanted it so badly for it to be true that I lost sight of my integrity."

Karin's voice was quiet. "You mean you _wanted_ me to seduce you?"

After a pause, he said, "You really want me to answer that?"

Karin couldn't see his face, but she heard the faint amusement in his voice.

"That's not funny." But she chuckled nonetheless.

He finally let her go, but this time, Karin dropped the groceries, turned, and pulled him back.

"Nuh-uh. You're not getting away that easy."

"Is this a punishment?" Toushirou asked, not really minding how her arms around his waist felt, no matter how tightly she squeezed. "Because I don't think it's much of one."

Loosening her hold on his waist, Karin looked up at Toushirou. "Isn't it obvious? I'm seducing you."

Toushirou looked back at her, an eyebrow raised. "Well, it's not very seductive." he teased, leaning closer to her face, now frowning in annoyance. He smiled, "More like cute… but it's safe to say it's working."

She smiled again, and Toushirou felt his own lips curl up into a smile.

Their silhouettes merged into one as they kissed, the groceries forgotten.

…

Kyo's stomach growled.

"What's taking them so long? I meant for them to talk out their problem, not spill their whole life stories to each other… "

…

To say that Yoruichi was disgruntled would be an understatement.

She had just returned from a long espionage trip and had been taking off her boots in the hall, when Urahara had made what she viewed as an _order_, phrased as a delicate request.

"Kisuke, _why_ do you always give me the kids with unknown powers?" Yoruichi snarled. "I don't have any more idea what to do with them than you do."

Waving his fan at her, Urahara flattered, "Of course you do! You're the great Shihouin Yoruichi! Nothing stumps you!"

The dark-skinned woman raised an elegant eyebrow at this. "Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?"

Urahara innocently shook his head, a grin on his face. She threw a boot at him. "You were being sarcastic."

"No way - "

Defeated, Yoruichi sighed and headed down to the basement, where Yuzu waited.

"I'll leave it to you, Yoruichi-saaaan!"

Her only reply was the other boot to his face.

…

Renji wiped the sweat from his tattooed brow. "Let's give it a rest already!" he called out.

Stabbing her glaive into the ground, Tatsuki shot back, "Sure, if you can't handle it, that's fine."

Stopping in the middle of resealing his zanpakutou, Renji raised his re-unleashed Zabimaru threateningly. "Why you - !"

Tatsuki stuck out her tongue at him. At this, Shuuhei had to hold Renji back. "Calm down, Renji. She's just trying to rile you up."

"Well it's working! If she can't be grateful to me for helping her train, the least she can do is refrain from insulting me!" Renji shouted.

"Be the bigger man." Shuuhei advised.

"I'll thank you stop suggesting that I'm a man, Hisagi-san." Tatsuki said flatly.

"You think that you're a _woman_, woman?" Renji snapped.

"Well, you just called me a woman!"

The two got engaged in a glaring match.

Yuzu turned to Rangiku. "Are they always bickering this much, Rangiku-san?"

Rangiku smirked. "Well, it's to be expected that they'd get along, what with their fiery tempers and all."

Eyeing Rangiku as if she'd grown another head, Yuzu said, "It doesn't look like they're getting along at all…"

Smiling slyly at the younger girl, Rangiku said, "You'll understand when you're older."

"Well aren't you all lively." Yoruichi remarked, striding towards them.

Yuzu stood up. "Umm… Are you Yoruichi-san?"

"I am."

Yoruichi looked Yuzu over once. "Hm. You don't look at all like Karin. More curvy, for one." Yuzu blushed.

"Less muscular, for another." Yoruichi added. "Well, your ability has little to do with muscles, anyway." She circled around Yuzu, much like she had while examining Karin.

"So you're one of the fabled Reiyokujin. A spiritual _suppressor. _According to records, your predecessors disappeared long ago." She looked thoughtful. "Kurotsuchi would have a field day if he found out about you. I wonder why you've appeared now?"

Feeling distinctly unsettled by Yoruichi's scrutiny, Yuzu shifted. "Kurotsuchi?"

Rangiku answered, "Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

"Too right, she is." Yoruichi agreed. "If you want to back out, then do so now." She warned. "My training is by no means easy."

All signs of discomfort disappearing, Yuzu met Yoruichi's golden eyes squarely. "If I were to back out now, I would never have come in the first place."

Mouth curling up into a cat-like smile, Yoruichi said, "That's what I like to hear. Now, shall we start your training?" _'As the deadline is tomorrow.' _She added silently.

"All of your family members were able to gain their powers, and harness them, when they thought about what they wanted to protect, and what to fight. The latter doesn't apply to you, but the former does." Yoruichi crossed her arms as she stared down at Yuzu. "Now, what do _you_ want to protect?"

Yuzu immediately knew the answer to this one.

…

On Saturday morning, Karin saw that Yuzu still had not returned. If it weren't for the note, she would have thought that Yuzu had been kidnapped.

But the whole Kurosaki family was still worried. Yuzu never stayed out; she didn't even sleep over at friend's houses.

Karin absently poured out cereal for herself, her mind on where Yuzu was. _'Could she be - ?' _No. Urahara wouldn't allow her. Would he?

"Karin!"

She snapped out of her stupor. "Hwhuh?"

With an alarmed look on his face, Kyo pointed to her bowl of cereal. "The milk! Th'milk!"

Karin looked down and saw she had poured nearly all the contents of the carton out into the overflowing bowl of cereal.

If not for her reflexes, Karin would have dropped the milk completely. As it was, milk sloshed over her clothes and only a pint of milk was salvaged.

"Urgh…" Milk dripped all over the counter. Cursing to herself, Karin mopped it up and went to change her clothes.

Even when it was ten minutes before the time to go to the school to catch the bus for the soccer game, Yuzu still hadn't returned.

"I'm skipping the game." Karin declared.

Her whole family protested at this.

"Ichigo and I'll stay at home, so you can go to the game." Isshin informed her.

"Yeah, this game is important to you, isn't it?" Ichigo pointed out.

Karin crossed her arms obstinately. "It's not like it's the national finals or anything. They can do without me – "

Kyo interrupted her, "It's not like you staying will make Yuzu come home any quicker."

At this very valid point, Karin wilted. "It's not like I'll be able to concentrate on the game." She sat down and put her head in her hands. "If I play like this, I'll just hold the team back…"

As Toushirou sat down beside her to put a comforting arm around her, Kyo suddenly stiffened. There was a voice sounding from the back of his mind.

'_It's starting.'_

…

Urahara and Yoruichi looked up from what they were doing; Urahara, lounging, Yoruichi, in the act of releasing her spiritual pressure in order to train Yuzu. They exchanged looks.

Grimmjow and Neliel both widened their eyes. They looked up from their board game.

"What was that?" Neliel asked, looking unsettled.

"That felt like – "

A motion caught Grimmjow's eye. It was Urahara, putting a finger to his lips. _'What is that guy up to?'_

…

Aizen stood at the head of an arrancar army, with Momo at his left side. In front of her was a dimensional rift; but instead of opening into complete darkness like those that led to Hueco Mundo, it opened up into blinding light.

Smiling at this sight, Aizen said to Momo, "Well done. It seems like your powers have finally grown enough to open a gate to the King's Dimension."

Momo tentatively smiled back.

Aizen said to Caballero on his right, "Let us go."

Taking this as his cue, Caballero said in a more carrying voice, "Let us go, fellow arrancar! To the King's Dimension, to finally break free of the millennia of oppression from the Spirit King!"

Even the arrancar who didn't like Aizen roared in approval at this move. They surged forward, to the Spirit King's dimension.

…

Kyo shook his head, trying to force the voice out of his mind. Yet the voice continued to echo. '_If you want to save your 'sister'…'_

An image of Karin all bloodied and cut up, surrounded by all these people – her family, shinigami friends, school friends – all dead, flashed in Kyo's mind. Kyo felt nauseated at the sight. The voice continued,_ 'Gather your shinigami friends and come to Hueco Mundo. The battle must start. Your role in this puppet show is just beginning.'_

'_If you want to save…' _The command began to repeat, as if on loop. _'Your role…' _The more he tried to resist, the louder the commands echoed. Kyo began to feel a nauseating pounding in his head.

All of the Kurosaki family was too preoccupied with Yuzu's disappearance to realize that Kyo was acting strange.

But Toushirou noticed.

Standing up, he went over to Kyo. "What's wrong?" Toushirou asked in a low voice.

"A voice… telling me…" Kyo mumbled. "War… starting…"

Toushirou's eyes widened. He roughly grabbed Kyo's shoulders, ignoring the boy's wince at the shaking. "What did you say?"

"Gather in Hueco Mundo…" Kyo clutched his head, grimacing in pain. "All… shinigami…"

Finally, unable to bear the pain any longer, Kyo grabbed the counter, gasping.

This caught the attention of the rest of the Kurosaki family.

…

Titiritero stood in front of the gate that the other arrancar had left through. Though poised to enter, he still waited for the shinigami to come.

"Will this really work, Titiritero-sama?"

Resisting the urge to blast Hiroshi's head off, Titiritero replied curtly, "Yes. His compulsion will be strong enough." _'I gave him sufficient incentive as well. Not to mention that he probably won't be able withstand the pain for long.' _His mouth tugged into a grim smirk. _'The pain will get worse the longer he holds off on obeying.'_

Seeing the look on Titiritero's face, Hiroshi already regretted his defection. But if he ever wanted to see his family in Kyoto again, Titiritero was his best chance. He glanced nervously back, where the other members of Group Exile eyed him resentfully.

Hikari spat, "What? Wasn't it enough that you replaced our real memories with phony ones and bulked us up?"

"That was your own choice." Hiroshi muttered.

Sho glared at him. "After this battle, you're going to regret ever giving us hollow powers by the time we're through with you."

Seeing through Hiroshi's poorly disguised look of fear Kohaku said quietly, "You want us to spare you?"

Akito snorted. "Yeah, right. We're just keeping you alive for now, just for your strength for this war."

Ryou just simmered with anger silently.

Other arrancar defectors stood with them.

"Storming the Spirit King's palace doesn't seem like such a bad idea either." one arrancar remarked.

If they hadn't been so low on forces, that particular arrancar would have had his head blown off. Titiritero tensed his jaw and ground out, "If the current Spirit King falls, Aizen will just replace him." He shot the arrancar a murderous look. "Is that what you want?"

Another arrancar cuffed him on the head. "At least the Spirit King now doesn't have direct control over us. If Aizen were to rise as Spirit King…" he shuddered at the thought.

A blonde female arrancar crossed her arms. "And that's why we're going to stop him." She glanced at Group Exile. "We're only putting up with you kids until then. After that, you're free game." She warned.

Rolling her eyes over to the female arrancar, Hikari shot back, "That's our line."

Akito sneered, "Like you can beat us."

Kohaku reminded him, "Says he who lost so badly to a shinigami."

Shooting the younger boy a venomous look, Akito snarled, "Shut up! I was still getting used to my new body then! Now I won't lose to _anybody_."

Sho mediated, "Cool it, guys. If we're divided against each other, we'll never be able to defeat Aizen."

Titiritero crossed his arms. All he needed was for Kyo to bring the shinigami.

…

"Ho~ you catch on quick, don't you?" Yoruichi said, impressed.

Yuzu was now effectively able to suppress the spiritual powers of as many as four specific shinigami at once. But when she tried to suppress more than that, she lost her control over her suppression, and people 'on her side' found themselves unable to use their spiritual powers as well.

Yuzu paused in the middle of her training. She looked at her watch and gasped.

"It's almost time for Karin-chan's soccer game!"

Yoruichi looked grimly amused. "Soccer should be the last thing on their minds."

Sure enough, above, all of the shinigami of the Kurosaki family burst into the shop. Ichigo supported Kyo, and Karin's eyes were wide with panic. First Yuzu didn't come home, and this time Kyo had suddenly collapsed.

Urahara met them, already knowing what they had come for. Ichigo carefully lay Kyo down.

Karin knelt beside him. "What's wrong with him?" she pleaded Urahara.

It was Kyo who answered, albeit in broken sentences. "Compulsion… My master…"

Not having time to dwell on the realization that Kyo already knew his true identity, Karin asked him, "Your master?"

Before Kyo could answer – if he could – the shopkeeper asked him, "Can you stand? We need to go down to the basement."

Though Kyo nodded, Ichigo hauled him to his feet instead. "Don't be ridiculous. How can you stand in that state?" His brown eyes were filled with worry.

So with Ichigo's help, all of them filed into the basement.

Karin spotted Yuzu among the other shinigami.

"Yuzu!"

"Karin-chan!" Yuzu ran over to them. "What about the soccer game – what's wrong with Kyo-kun?"

Urahara answered, "He'll probably be fine once he goes back to Hueco Mundo, since that's where his creator resides." He turned to Neliel and Grimmjow, who had long since abandoned the board game. Neliel nodded.

"Where to?" She asked.

"Most likely, the atrium of Las Noches." Urahara said.

The portal leading to Hueco Mundo opened like a mouth ready to swallow them.

All of the group, human, shinigami, and arrancar steeled themselves as they walked in.

…

…

A/N: …Uh... I have nothing to say?


	33. Stirrings of Battle

**Chapter 33: Stirrings of Battle**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Things are finally heating up… *Collapses* Another tiring chapter. Only for you, my readers. Only for you.

…

**Chapter 33**

Stirrings of Battle

…

Aizen stepped out of the portal into bright light. Though the sun that shined down on them suggested they stood outdoors, beneath their feet lay white marble. Endless marble. Whichever direction the arrancar looked, marble seemed to stretch on forever.

Glancing up at the sun, which shined brightly, Aizen raised an eyebrow.

"I… see. That's how it is."

Caballero looked interested at Aizen's reaction to this world, but knew better than to ask.

Years since she had last seen daylight, Momo blinked and looked around nervously. She shuffled closer to Aizen, who ignored her.

After a moment of deliberation, Aizen took another step forward. But as he placed his foot down on the ground, swords surrounded his neck.

"How came you here, trespasser?" asked a shinigami with a cloth covering his face. He seemed to be the leader of his numerous comrades.

Aizen smiled, as if he had expected this reception. "I have no obligation to tell you."

His smile turned into a smirk as the arrancar behind him launched their attack.

…

As the other shinigami stepped into the garganta, Karin paused when she saw Yuzu about to step in as well. She held her back and started to say, "You can't – "

Urahara interrupted, "She can."

All of the Kurosaki family stared at him in disbelief. Though the shopkeeper looked at them calmly, there was a trace of impatience in his voice. "There isn't any time to explain." He looked pointedly at Kyo, who only barely held onto his remaining consciousness by mere threads. "…but she'll help us in battle."

The shinigami seemed to take his word for it, even those who didn't trust him; as long as he had his sense and sanity, Urahara wouldn't lead Yuzu into sure death in front of her whole family.

Karin saw that though her family members' faces were dark with worry, none of them protested.

Brow furrowed with concern, Karin reluctantly let go of Yuzu. She didn't understand why Urahara said that it was okay for Yuzu to come along.

How could she battle? Yuzu couldn't see spirits, much less the arrancar. The only shinigami she could see were Yoruichi and Urahara, the ones clad in gigai. She couldn't even see her father and brother. Still, Yuzu entered the garganta.

As the darkness surrounded her, Yuzu closed her eyes tightly in fear. Her hand shot out instinctively, and Karin gripped it. Karin squeezed gently with her warm hand, and this seemed to comfort Yuzu, as she relaxed by a minimal amount.

But still, Karin felt Yuzu's fear. She grit her teeth. Her twin, who had listed everything from bugs to dentists as her fears, couldn't_ not_ be afraid of walking into battle with them. Through the darkness, she cursed Urahara. Maybe Toushirou's paranoia was contagious; the brief thought that Yuzu had somehow been _forced_ to come along passed through Karin's mind. But her mind knew that it was impossible, and Urahara wouldn't stoop to forcing anyone, no matter how manipulative he was.

They walked for what seemed like an interminably long time, even though Karin knew in reality that it couldn't have been more than a minute.

Then they stepped out into the main dome of Las Noches.

Grimmjow looked around with satisfaction. "Now _this_ is what I call a proper house."

Neliel rolled her eyes. "Oh please. This isn't a house, it's a _fortress_."

After Kyo stepped into Las Noches, he finally seemed to recover. Some color had returned to his face and he no longer needed Ichigo's support.

During the short period Karin had resided in Las Noches, she had grown accustomed to it practically teeming with dangerous spiritual energy. Now, it felt relatively empty, as if nearly all its residents had moved out. As they headed towards what spiritual energy remained, almost immediately, Karin could sense Group Exile's spiritual energies. Her guard shot up. Though probable the other members also had their memories rewritten, it wouldn't hurt to be careful. A growl rose in her throat as she felt Hiroshi's as well. Kyo seemed to feel the same way, as he clenched his fists.

Finally, they arrived at the source.

When the extremely dense spiritual pressure fell upon her, Yuzu's knees threatened to buckle. She couldn't see anyone except the humans, but there were crowds of beings giving off large amounts of reiatsu. She had trained with Yoruichi to withstand higher spiritual pressures, but never this much at once. She stiffened her knees just in time, but her fear was palpable.

Karin supported Yuzu just in time. Of course she wouldn't be able to stand the spiritual pressures of thirty something arrancar. Still holding onto Yuzu, who was shaking, she held out one hand and summoned Koutetsu, merged into one.

A familiar arrancar said in a bored voice, "Save your strength."

Kyo froze at the voice. It was the voice that had echoed through his head, commanding him to bring all the shinigami to Hueco Mundo.

Meanwhile, Karin recognized the arrancar from elsewhere. He was one of the arrancar she had met in the Kyoto mansion.

"Why?" She asked warily, voicing exactly what the other shinigami had thought, as they too had unsheathed their zanpakutou.

Titiritero jerked a thumb over his shoulder, towards the bright portal.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend…" Neliel breathed in realization. "You guys are against Aizen too."

Hikari noted with an annoyed look on her face, "You really like Sun Tsu, don't you?"

Kaoru ran forward and catapulted himself round Grimmjow's middle. "Grimmjow-nii-sama!"

Grimmjow pushed the boy off, looking even more annoyed than Hikari. "Don't bloody stick to me like a piece of gum, brat."

Instead of looking hurt, Kaoru's face broke out into a toothy grin. Deciding it best to just ignore the boy, Grimmjow turned to Titiritero. "So you decided to rebel after all, eh? Took you long enough."

"I was just waiting for the right moment. Unlike you."

"I'm surprised you had that much patience." Grimmjow sneered.

Titiritero raised his fist in a threatening motion. But then, with what looked like an enormous effort, he slowly put it back down, and said, "If you're still in one piece after this battle, we'll settle things."

Grimmjow smirked at him. "If _you're_ still in one piece, you mean."

This seemed to be the last straw, and Titiritero would have attacked Grimmjow if Kyo hadn't caught his eye. Forgetting about Grimmjow, Titiritero turned to his favorite creation. "Ah. Kyo. My masterpiece."

At this, Kyo jerked into life. "You… made me." Kyo slowly stated.

Titiritero affirmed, "Yes. Now your part in this play starts." He beckoned to a stone-faced girl with pale-purple hair who stood nearby. As she came forward, he said, "Meet your fellow creation, Vienta. In a way, she is your younger sister."

Ikkaku cut in, "Stop babbling, blondie. Let's go through the damn portal already."

Insulting Titiritero was as dangerous as poking a wild animal in the eye, but Titiritero managed to hold back. He stiffly nodded and started towards the portal.

But Urahara held up a hand, stopping the other shinigami from following Titiritero. Eyeing the portal, he asked, "Does that lead into the King's dimension?"

Titiritero paused only to say, "Yes." before he plunged into the bright light. Vienta wordlessly turned away from Kyo and followed after her master.

Which left the others to wonder about Titiritero's answer. Isshin frowned. "He can't have made an Ouken over these years, could he?"

Urahara shook his head. "No. Only a single juureichi (*spirit-enriched land) can exist in one period of time. And it's obvious that he hasn't reaped the souls from Karakura." He lapsed into thought. "I saw the Hougyouku crumble with my own eyes …"

Ichigo brandished Zangetsu and said, "Who cares how it was opened, when it's open now. Let's go stop him." He, too, ran straight into the portal.

Isshin and Urahara traded looks. "Well, he has a point." So they stepped through as well, followed by Yoruichi.

The arrancar had already nearly all disappeared to what was supposed to lead to the King's dimension. One by one, the shinigami also filed through the portal, until only Kyo, Yuzu, Karin and Toushirou were left.

Before Yuzu could step into the bright light as well, Karin grabbed her wrist.

"Yuzu…"

Yuzu managed to smile brightly at her. "Don't worry, Karin-chan. I'll be okay. Like Urahara-san said, I promise I'll be useful in this battle."

Unable to hold back any longer, Karin cried out, "But what if you're hurt?"

"Karin-chan will protect me, won't you?"

Karin could only nod at this, but she still held onto Yuzu's wrist, keeping her back.

Gently, Toushirou put a hand on her shoulder, and Karin looked at him. "Let her go." Toushirou said simply. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Karin let go of Yuzu's wrist, and Yuzu stepped into the light.

Then Toushirou entered the portal, leaving Karin and Kyo behind.

Opening her eyes, Karin turned to Kyo.

"Kyo."

Still staring into the blindingly white light, Kyo replied absently, "Hm?"

Aware that his attention wasn't wholly with her, Karin said more firmly, "Kyo, look at me."

Kyo turned his head towards her. "What…?"

"Promise me something."

Laughing, Kyo said, "For my twin, I'll do anything. I'll even get you the moon and stars, if you want."

Karin didn't laugh. Instead, she took his hands and said, "Stay alive."

Abruptly, Kyo stopped laughing. He could still clearly envision the scene that Titiritero had shown him. He would do anything to prevent that from happening. Even at the cost of his own life. He said seriously, "I'll stay by your side."

Karin furrowed her brow. He'd somehow managed to avoid saying specifically that he'd stay alive. Tightening her mouth in annoyance, she repeated, "Swear to me that you'll _stay alive._"

"I'll always stay by your side. _Always_. I swear." Kyo replied.

"Why don't you just swear to me that you _won't die_ instead?" Karin insisted. Seeing Kyo's sad look, Karin became angry and grabbed his collar, shaking him. "Promise me!"

Giving her a sad smile, Kyo said, "I don't make promises I might not be able to keep. You're the same, aren't you?"

Letting go of his collar, Karin dropped her gaze to the ground. Kyo chucked her under the chin.

"I'll be with you even after I die. I swear."

Desperate, Karin settled for, "Then even if you _do _die, promise me you'll become a shinigami and visit me once in a while." She attempted to lighten up the mood. "If I'm still alive after this battle, that is. If not, I can go visit you. If we both die, then we'll both become shini - "

"Puppets might not be able to go to Soul Society." Kyo reminded her gently. Struck by this, Karin immediately knew that could indeed, be the case.

Turning away from him angrily, Karin stalked into the portal first, leaving Kyo staring at the place where she had disappeared.

…

Aizen walked calmly on the marble ground, flanked by Caballero and Momo. Behind them, men were littered along the path, some frothing at the mouth, others simply dead. Some ways back, Aizen's army of arrancar followed them. Countless groups of patrolling shinigami – mere minions of the Spirit King, not his royal guard – had attacked them, only to be defeated.

Suddenly, Aizen stopped walking. "Ah. I see that simply opening the King's dimension wasn't enough to summon his palace itself."

Turning to Momo, he smiled. "Hinamori-kun. Simply put your hand here, and wish for the Spirit Palace to appear."

Slowly, Momo raised her hand. But she hesitated once her hand neared the area Aizen indicated. She asked him, "What for...?"

At her question, Aizen's smile gained a hint of steeliness. He repeated, "Put your hand on here. If you wish to continue being my queen, you'll listen to what I say."

Not wanting to lose his faith, Momo placed her hand in what seemed like thin air. But to her, it felt solid. Squeezing her eyes shut, Momo said out loud, "Appear… Palace…"

Starting from where Momo's hand had been, a wall formed

Before their very eyes, a massive palace materialized. It was built in Japanese Nara-style architecture, and stretched further and higher than their eyes could see. Las Noches couldn't even compare to what they were standing in front of now.

Nevertheless, Aizen looked on unimpressed. Instead his eyes were filled with contempt. He turned his back to the seemingly endless structure and spread his arms, addressing the arrancar.

"Feast yourselves, my arrancar."

With fearsome looks on their faces, the arrancar performed their resurrecions and cried their battle cries; then they stormed the Spirit King's palace.

…

The Spirit King opened his eyes. He addressed the royal guard. "The one who thinks he can destroy me has come, hasn't he?"

Despite the fact that the King wasn't facing them, all of the royal guard kneeled.

"We will take care of him, O King."

After a moment, the King said, "Very well. You may all leave."

The royal guard exchanged looks. All of them had been former captains of the Gotei 13. Back in Seireitei, the Spirit King hadn't interfered with any of their duties. But now, orders of the Spirit King were absolute.

"…All of us?" A royal guard asked, sure that he had heard wrong.

"Don't make me repeat myself."

"But – !" Another guard started.

"…But what?" the King whispered.

At the dangerously quiet voice, the guard fell silent. "…Nothing, sire."

In a louder voice, King said, "That's right. I don't need protection. Now leave."

All of the guards backed out of his presence. When the King felt them scatter to different areas of the palace, he smirked.

"I can't have you spoiling my fun."

…

When Karin arrived at the other side, it was utterly chaotic, but quiet at the same time. A prodigious number of shinigami whom she didn't recognize lay on the cold marble floor.

Carefully crouching on the ground beside a fallen woman, Karin checked if she breathed. She didn't.

They were all dead.

Stunned despite herself, Karin stood up and looked around at all the dead people. She had encountered her fair share of hurl-worthy sights, but this sea of dead people had to top them all. Though she had seen blood, people on the verge of death, and even killed arrancar, she had never seen them DOA. She had never actually seen dead human souls.

All the cereal she had consumed that morning threatened to rise up her esophagus. Spitting out the bile and fighting the urge to throw up, Karin silently thanked whatever deity existed that Yuzu wouldn't be able to see this sight.

_Yuzu… _It occurred to Karin that she didn't see her sister, or any of her comrades around her.

In the distance, she saw a mammoth… no, _behemoth… _structure. Even from where she stood, several kilometers away, she couldn't see the ends of the palace.

She looked for all the people who had come ahead of her, but she didn't see anybody. Bewildered, she looked behind her. There was no portal. Where did it go? Where was Kyo? Closing her eyes, Karin tried to detect the spiritual energies of everyone. Anyone. But the so-called 'Spirit King's Dimension' was reiatsu itself. She could feel everything, and nothing all at once.

The only choice left was to go towards that gargantuan palace.

…

Toushirou stood, confused. He saw a colossal structure ahead, with numerous shinigami lying dead on the ground. But none of them were his comrades.

Where was everybody else? Only Yuzu stood beside him. And she couldn't see him, so though _he_ wasn't by himself, _she_ was essentially alone.

But his spiritual mass was dense enough to feel. So he put what he thought was a comforting hand on Yuzu's shoulder.

Yuzu, apparently, thought otherwise, because as she felt an ice-cold touch on her shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her skin and emitted a hair-raising scream.

Hastily, Toushirou removed his hand. He searched desperately for a method to inform her that he wasn't an enemy. The only way for a spirit to remotely convey things to a human who couldn't see spirits was to write to them a message, and that was only the case for spiritually dense spirits, as well. (Spirits that couldn't even anchor themselves to the ground had absolutely no way to touch objects; therefore making it impossible for them to communicate with a spiritually unaware human.)

'_Write…' _Toushirou thought. Then an idea occurred to him. He could write a message on the ground that he was Hitsugaya Toushirou! But when he looked down, he realized that they stood on marble. So much for scrawling a message in the dirt.

Sighing, Toushirou unsheathed his sword. He would just have to use Hyourinmaru to carve the marble. Because he wanted to conserve his spiritual energy as much as possible, he just used his ice to cut a single kanji into the floor.

Yuzu heard a scraping noise come from in front of her. She saw a word writing itself in the marble floor.

"_Tomo_…" She said slowly. "Friend."

Looking up abruptly, she guessed, "Renji-san? Rangiku-san?"

Toushirou's brow twitched at this.

Seeing no answer, Yuzu said, "Put your hand on my shoulder again when I get it right."

Toushirou released Hyourinmaru once more, and again using minimal power, he simply drew an arrow pointing towards the towering structure in the distance. There was no time for 'guess who.' As long as she knew he was an ally, it didn't matter who she thought he was. He would just carry her to the palace ahead.

Though Yuzu saw the arrow, she had no time to react, as the cold hands threw her in what felt like a fireman's hold. Air started rushing by in an impossible speed. This time, Yuzu had no breath to scream.

In all of a few seconds, she was set down in front of the palace.

There was no front gate. So Toushirou silently apologized to the spirit king and made one.

Yuzu jumped back as the wall in front of her was smashed in.

Beyond the dust, he saw two figures.

A familiar voice called out, "Oh! It's you guys. You're safe!"

"Tatsuki-chan!" Yuzu's eyes lit up. Finally, somebody she could see.

Renji, the other figure, ironically saluted Toushirou. "Ossu."

"Abarai." Toushirou nodded.

Realizing that Yuzu couldn't see spirits, Tatsuki said, "I came through with Renji."

Yuzu looked down, embarrassed that she was the only one unable to see spirits. The thought that it would be a hindrance hadn't occurred to her, but it was obvious that it was. Tentatively, she asked, "Who's… the shinigami with me?"

Tatsuki answered kindly, "It's Tou… I mean, Hitsugaya-taichou."

Yuzu winced. "Oh… I'm sorry, Toushirou-kun. I can't see you right now, so forgive me, okay?"

Tatsuki's eyes flickered over to Toushirou. The captain shrugged and answered, "I don't care." He turned away.

Shooting Toushirou a dirty look behind his back, Tatsuki phrased it more nicely, "He says that it's fine."

Hearing the translation, Toushirou snorted. Crossing his arms, he asked Renji. "Does this place feel odd to you?"

Renji gazed outside through the hole in the wall that Toushirou had made. "Yeah. I was starting to think it was just me who thought that." He glanced at Tatsuki wryly. "Then again, I didn't try asking that female hellion for her opinion."

Raising his head to the sun, Toushirou stated, "That sun is fake."

Renji furrowed his tattooed eyebrows at this declaration. "I think so too. But why bother to make a fake sun? Is there no real sun in the Spirit King's Dimension? How do you figure that?"

Toushirou turned his back on the fake sun and said grimly, "Unfortunately, I don't have the answers to your questions. But I have a bad feeling about this dimension." The corners of his mouth tightened. "I wonder…"

Renji looked over at the younger captain questioningly. "You wonder… what?"

Toushirou shook his head. "It's nothing." Looking over at the human girls, he said, "Let's get going. We have to stop Aizen before he gets to the Spirit King." _'Please be safe, Karin…'_

…

Karin stood in front of the palace. She placed a hand on the smooth wall, and felt that it was made of spiritual particles. She would need Koutetsu in order to break through. Swiftly, she summoned him and sliced through the wall.

Stepping through, Karin again tried to feel for her comrades' spiritual energy. Yet again, she failed. But even if she couldn't pinpoint any specific person, she could at least find where the largest amount of spiritual pressure was gathered.

'_There!'_

Flash-stepping more quickly than she ever had, Karin arrived at the true battle scene.

Arrancar against arrancar, human against arrancar, shinigami against arrancar.

She saw Ryou in her boots driving away all the arrancar who attacked her. Sho too, wielded his hellish broadsword without any discrimination, as long as it was an arrancar who attacked him. This made Karin realize that this was a battle of survival. Group Exile was fighting for their lives, to go back to their regular lives, before there had ever been a Group Exile.

Then an arrancar spied Karin and yowled. "You! You traitor!"

Blocking his strike with one sword, Karin slew him with the other.  
Running across the battlefield, Karin scanned among the black shinigami robes for a familiar face. She saw Ikkaku and Yumichika. They seemed to have seen her as well.

"Oi, Karin!" Ikkaku yelled. "We got this! Go find Ichigo!"

Two women entwined themselves around him. "Now, we can't have that, can we?"

As Karin ran ahead, she saw Ikkaku hacking them off, with much trouble. When she saw a limb regenerate from its severed stump, Karin grimaced in sympathy for Ikkaku. It really was hard to fight arrancar with high-speed regenerative abilities. Silently thanking Ikkaku and Yumichika, she flash-stepped away from the battle scene.

Meanwhile, Ikkaku was still wrestling with one of the Gorgon sisters.

"You can't get rid of us that easily." The Gorgon smiled.

"That's not fair, Stheno! I want to play with him too!" the other sister crossed her arms.

Yumichika tapped her on the shoulder. "Shall we play instead? You are more beautiful than your sister."

Her face brightened, like a child presented with a new toy. She grabbed a wide bracelet wrapped around her wrist and said with a smile, "Oh my… you do me too much credit." She whipped her bracelet off, revealing it to be her zanpakutou. "But flattering me won't make the me go any easier on you."

Yumichika leapt back and smiled. "An elegant zanpakutou worth of a woman of your beauty. I am Yumichika Ayasegawa. What is your name?"

Licking her whip, the second of the Gorgon sisters answered, "I am Euryale, the Novena Espada." She showed off the tattoo of the number '9' on the palm of her left hand.

"Ahh, an Espada." Yumichika drew his own zanpakutou. "I hear Espada are worth playing with. We'll see."

...

Meanwhile, Karin skidded to a stop as she saw three familiar figures from behind. There was no mistaking that hat.

"You!" She hissed.

Momo, Caballero, and Aizen all turned around, the latter two's mouths twisted upwards.

"Ah. My bishop." Aizen smiled. "Come join us. Together, we shall overthrow the Spirit King."

Though Karin felt a strong compel to obey, she just barely held back. Still, her body seemed almost magnetically drawn towards Aizen. "Wh…what… have you done to me?" She leapt back and struggled with herself.

Seeing her resist his total hypnosis, Aizen raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're able to resist?" He looked pensive. "Though I would like to study you, a bishop who is not loyal to me will only hinder me at this point of my plan. Caballero?"

The gentleman bowed. "Leave her to me, Aizen-sama."

So Karin found herself facing the second Espada for the fourth time.

...

Kyo, who had gone through the portal last, was greeted by the same sight that all the others had been. Countless dead shinigami lay on the marble floor before him. In the distance an enormous palace loomed.

There were no others in sight. They had already gone ahead to battle Aizen.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he had no choice but to bypass the shinigami and head towards the palace to catch up with the others. He could instinctively _feel_ where his master was. But he could also feel Karin. Since his master hadn't given him a compulsion this time, he was free to choose which one to go to.

Without any hesitation, Kyo chose Karin.

…

Karin brandished her swords. "You're mistaken if you think I'm the same as when you first met me."

Caballero, as leisurely as ever, laughed. "Of course not! I wouldn't dare belittle a lady's progress." This made Karin even angrier. Scowling, she swung her swords towards Caballero. He avoided them easily. "Remember, anger makes your movements easy to read." He whispered in her ear.

When had he gotten behind her? Cursing, she swirled her arm around abruptly, trying to cut him. He nimbly leapt out of the way.

"Face me properly, damnit!" Karin yelled.

"No matter how coarsely the lady speaks, no gentleman will raise a hand, or blade in this case, against her." Caballero replied.

"Then what about the time you kidnapped me? Did I just faint into your arms?" Asked Karin sarcastically.

Putting a hand over his heart in mock regret, he said, "Sadly, no. That was the one unhappy incident where I had to break my creed. I had no choice, as per my orders."

As Karin flash-stepped, she forced herself to be calm. _'His speed is still above mine.' _She knew that her only chance was to outwit him. Problem was… Caballero was extremely intelligent. Maybe she could use that intelligence against him?

But unfortunately, Karin's intellect stopped right there. Easier said than done, she thought bitterly. Especially if she was constantly running and wielding two swords. Her mind couldn't possibly multitask to that extent.

'_**You could let me take over. I can multitask ever so well.'**_

By now, Karin could tell what thoughts were hers and which were her hollow's. Recalling what disastrous misunderstanding her hollow had caused the last time she had taken over, Karin thought vehemently, _'No. Thank. You.'_ She then shut out her hollow's voice from her mind. She returned her full attention to Caballero, who was eyeing her smugly as he knew what was going on in her head. Not rising to his provocation, Karin abruptly changed the direction her body was moving in.

Beneath his white top hat, Caballero's eyes widened. He spun around and unsheathed his sabre just in time to block Karin's strike to his neck with a merged Koutetsu.

Gritting her teeth, Karin used the weight of her heavier blade against Caballero's and continued to press forward. Caught by surprise but still unfaltering, Caballero retaliated by driving her off by swiping his sabre.

Striking again, Karin grinned. "I though you said you wouldn't use a blade against me?"

Smiling grimly back, Caballero blocked her sword and replied, "I suppose this is another exception that you've forced me to make." Jumping back, he examined his blade. "You're one of the two people who I have shown even a remotely ungentlemanly side to." He smiled, as if reminiscing on pleasant memories.

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Should I be honored?"

Green eyes swiveling over from his sabre to Karin, Caballero's smile vanished.

Conversely, the corner of Karin's mouth tugged up into a smirk. "I suppose the answer is 'no' then."

Eyes returning back to his blade, Caballero asked Karin in an apparent non sequitur, "Do you know what my zanpakutou's name is?"

He had released it before, when fighting Neliel. "Fata Morgana." her mouth formed the words as if she were talking in her sleep. It sounded familiar. She wracked her brains for where she had heard it before. Bizarrely, she felt like it was from one of her classes…

"Science!" Karin exclaimed. It had come up in one of her science lessons.

**Flashback**

_Ochi-sen pointed at the chalkboard, where she had pinned up photos of the same horizon, with what looked like different objects floating in the water far in the distance. Even though they were studying optical phenomena, namely illusions, the objects looked very real._

_"Now, pay attention, because this'll come up in a test. The name Fata Morgana is derived from Italian, and originates from a figure from the legend of King Arthur, Morgan le Fey. You've probably studied various characters from the legend of King Arthur in middle school."_

_Adjusting her glasses, the teacher cleared her throat and returned to the topic, "Anyways, back to the optical phenomenon. Fata Morgana is a form of a superior mirage. You all should know the difference between superior and inferior mirages are."_

_Seeing some embarrassed faces among her students, a vein popped out of Ochi-sensei's forehead. "If not, slap yourselves for not paying attention for the last week and go look it up in your textbooks. To summarize, inferior bends the light _upwards_, while superior bends _downwards_. It's counterintuitive, but think of it from the light's POV."_

_Leaning forward, Ochi-sensei said, "Like other mirages, Fata Morgana is caused by drastic temperatures refracting the light and therefore the images that we perceive. Though it is based on things really there in the distance, their images appear extremely distorted on horizons. Basically, all you need to know is that it's a complex, rapidly changing, optical illusion. Any questions?"_

_She was greeted by sleepy silence. Irritated that no one seemed to be paying attention, the teacher clapped her hands and announced, "Alright, since all of you seem to know this subject _so_ well already, let's just take the test today – "_

_Suddenly, hands shot up into the air._

**Flashback End**

"You... form complex illusions." Karin slowly said.

Caballero continued to idly examine the point of his sabre. "That is correct. You know my zanpakutou's powers… but will you be able to stop them?" He brought his sword up vertically, to the center of his face. "*Aludir, Fata Morgana. *Camuflaje." **(Aludir = Allude**. **Camuflaje = camouflage)**

Caballero's image wavered and vanished from her sight.

With all the reiatsu in this dimension clogging up her spiritual detection skills, Karin couldn't predict which direction he would attack from. She had no choice but to just continue moving to avoid his attacks until she could see him.

Caballero's voice sounded, "You know, this dimension is most suitable for my ability. Most people who find out what my ability is just close their eyes and try to detect my spiritual energy."

His voice came from her right. She rushed over to attack, swinging her sword, but she didn't feel it hit anything. On the contrary, she felt a stinging sensation.

Blood dribbled down from a long cut on her left arm. Karin breathed deeply to calm herself. Closing her eyes, she could _hear_ the air pressure compress in some places, where Caballero was stepping. It was a risk, but her only chance. When she heard Caballero's next sonido to her right, she abruptly stabbed her blade there. She felt it hit home, and saw blood dripping from the edge of her blade.

From the blood, she slowly saw Caballero appear, as if camouflage in reverse. She saw that her sword had bit into his side, and that blood was dripping from his mouth. "H…how…?" he managed.

There was a spray of blood as Karin mercilessly pulled her blade free. "Trade secret."

"It looks like I've underestimated the lady. Allow me to remedy that mistake." Considering Karin for a moment, Caballero held up his zanpakutou once more. He murmured, "*Crear." **(Crear = create)**

This time, his image flickered into Toushirou. Karin froze.

'Toushirou' reached out to touch Karin's face. "Karin." Even more blood dripped from his wound, and his face expression turned into one of agony. "Help…"

Despite herself, Karin weakened. She instinctively gripped his hand. "Toushirou…" she whispered. Then she regained her senses and thrust 'Toushirou's' hand aside, looking horrified.

For a moment, 'Toushirou's' face flickered into Caballero's. "Oh, _that's _who you see? I was thinking it would be Kyo. But the man you love is Hitsugaya Toushirou, eh?" 'Toushirou' said smugly. He had a very un-Toushirou-like smile on his face, and his arms were crossed.

Karin's face contorted into one of rage. She hurtled towards Caballero, sword raised, but his face flickered into Yuzu's.

"Karin-chan…"

Though her mind _knew_ that it was Caballero, Karin's sword still hesitated. Taking advantage of her opening, Caballero slashed her across the chest.

After Karin hit the ground, she barely clung onto her consciousness.

Or maybe she was drifting in and out of consciousness.

She didn't know.

How much time had passed?

Seconds?

Hours?

Presently, Toushirou came into her line of vision once more. His face appeared panicked. She felt his arms hold her. "Karin? Karin! Get a hold of yourself! You can't die here!" He gripped her tightly.

It was almost convincing, Karin thought. Even his arms felt the same. Despite her anger, Karin smirked, tightening her grip on Koutetsu. "You think I'd fall for that twice?"

She plunged her blade right through his chest.

Having just arrived after Toushirou had run ahead, Renji and Tatsuki looked on with horror as Karin stabbed the real Toushirou through the chest.

…

…

A/N: Aaaand… the countdown starts… though I don't really know how many chapters are left…


	34. Re:Her

**Chapter 34: Re:Her**

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: My cliffhangers… uh… I'm not doing it to torture the readers, I swear. They just… come to me, and I'm like: 'oh, this would be the perfect place to transition into the next chapter!'

…

**Chapter 34**

Re:Her

…

Toushirou looked down at the sword in his chest, his sea-green eyes wide. Then he coughed out blood. He stared at Karin with disbelief. "…Ka…rin…?"

"Stop with the act… Caballero." Karin hissed in a strained voice.

Time stood still, as they stared at each other, Karin's face full of hate, Toushirou's full of pain and confusion. Beyond the pain, Toushirou vaguely registered that she had just called him Caballero, and he knew that this was a result of one of Caballero's illusions.

As he fell forward, he inwardly cursed the Segundo Espada.

…

Watching from afar, Caballero smirked as he saw Toushirou collapse on the ground. Then, he winced as he felt another stabbing pain from his side.

'_Well, this is as far as I'm going, Aizen –_sama–_. It was rather enjoyable working under you.'_

Content to simply watch from behind the scenes as the story played out, Caballero melted back into the shadows.

…

Even her estranged nephew, whom she heard had recently (relatively speaking; it was less than a century ago) been made captain of the sixth division, had probably never encountered the sight before her eyes now.

At times like these, she deeply regretted that she hadn't retired like her father, Kuchiki Ginrei. In fact, ever since she had been "promoted" to the Zero Division, she'd been full of regret. She now knew why Ginrei had protested vehemently against her decision, going as far to disown her just as she went through the portal.

**Flashback**

"_If you step foot into that portal…"_

_She paused._

"_You will never set foot into the manor again. You will no longer be acknowledged as part of the Kuchiki Clan."_

_For a long moment, she stood still in front of the portal. Unable to look back, unable to go forward._

_She couldn't go, not without saying anything._

_Swallowing, she finally managed a reply. "Once I accepted the proposal, my fate - the clan's fate - was sealed." She knew, even without looking, that gray eyes, the very eyes that she had inherited, were boring into her. "If I do not go, the Four Noble Houses will number 'Three,' just as the Five Noble Houses numbered 'Four' after the Shiba clan was cast out from nobility."_

_There was no answer. She closed her eyes. "The Kuchiki clan will fall like the Shiba clan."_

_"…You will no longer have any need for your Kenseikan, then."_

_It was an implicit command that she give back the Kuchiki clan's symbol of nobility and that he would no longer recognize her as his daughter. Seishou pulled the Kenseikan from her hair. Even though she knew that it was considered blasphemous, she dropped it to the ground with a clink. She had been given the Kenseikan when she had become a fully-grown adult, and had worn it proudly ever since. Her head felt oddly light without it._

_It seemed paradoxically fitting, for her physical sign of nobility to hit the ground as she rose in status to join the Zero Division._

_She stepped forward into the blinding light, back straight with pride._

**Flashback End**

Now her back nearly hunched with sorrow, Kuchiki Seishou surveyed the bloody mess on the marble landscape. Nearly all of her subdivision lay massacred before her.

Though she knew they had died doing their duty, that didn't make her grieve any less. She only wished they'd known what they'd died fighting for…

For the King…?

She closed her gray eyes.

The Spirit King.

_The Spirit King._

_**It.**_

If Seishou hadn't inherited the strong Kuchiki sentiment that duty and discipline went hand in hand behind authority, she would have abandoned her duty long ago. She looked to the sky and thought to Ginrei, _'You were right, Father. I should never have accepted in the first place.'_

Presently, she felt a presence behind her, watching her for a chance to attack. After a century and half of being trapped in this dimension, Seishou's had come to be able to sense even the slightest change in the levels of spiritual particles around her. She spoke, "Why don't you come out now."

It wasn't a request. A blonde man – arrancar – came forth.

Seishou turned her head and fixed him with a single, stormy gray eye. "Was it you? The one who killed my subordinates."

He didn't answer and just continued to scowl at her. Reading his face expression, Seishou said evenly, "_'This whole dimension is made of reiatsu. How did you sense me?'_ Is that what you want to ask?"

His scowl deepened. Seishou raised her chin a millimeter; it seemed like she had hit the target true. "It seems as if I am the only one asking questions. How unfortunate. It would be highly advisable for you to utter any last words while you can."

She hadn't thought it possible for his face to contort further, but she had obviously been mistaken.

Then he snarled and attacked.

She blocked his sword with her own, which she had unsheathed faster than a blink of an eye. "If you believe such an attack will work against me, then you are gravely mistaken."

The arrancar spoke for the first time. "If you think _this_ is my attack, then _you're_ the one who's gravely mistaken."

Flash stepping back to his original position, he twitched his fingers and Seishou felt her body jerk involuntarily. Though surprised, she did not panic. Slowly but deliberately, she stood straight again.

"Ah. You control people using strings of reiatsu." Her gray eyes hardened. "But that will not work here. As you have noticed, this whole dimension is made of purely of reiatsu, of varying densities. Your strings will dissipate soon enough."

"Ha! You think reiatsu is the _only_ material I use? I, Titiritero por el Alambre? Puppeteer by wire?" As he said this, for a brief moment, the faux sunlight glinted off a stray wire from his hand.

Seishou calmly replied, "It matters not. I need not move to defeat you."

Despite the wires attached to her, Seishou raised her zanpakutou in front of her. "…Tokere, Koubai." (Dissolve, Red Blossom)

Immediately, her blade liquefied and swirled around her and her captain's cloak.

"You can hardly attach your wires to something that is not solid, _Titiritero por el Alambre_."

There was the barest trace of a smile on her face as the liquid rose and attacked.

…

Looking from the heavily injured Karin to Tatsuki's horrified face, Yuzu immediately knew that something was very, very wrong.

Yuzu ran to her twin. "Karin-chan!"

Tatsuki and Renji too, rushed over, Tatsuki to support the injured Karin, Renji to haul Toushirou away from her.

Renji cursed as the sword in Toushirou's chest dissolved as soon as it left Karin's hand. Now that the blade was gone, blood freely pooled out of the gaping wound. His kidou was nowhere good enough to heal a wound as serious as this.

"Yuzu…? Renji-san…? Tatsuki…?" Karin made out. Her brows knitted together as she forced her foggy mind to regain some form of clarity. As far as she knew, Caballero could only impersonate one person at a time. If they were all here… Then she had just stabbed… Her eyes widened.

"Toushirou!" Karin cried out, shoving Tatsuki and Yuzu aside without a care for her own wounds. Ignoring the pain that normal crania would have screamed at, Karin dove for Toushirou.

"…Toushirou…" Karin whispered, holding his hand.

Toushirou had a brief coughing spasm, but his mouth curled up into a smile. "…If I'd known… you had enough energy… left to stab somebody… I wouldn't have bothered worrying."

Even as she bled heavily from her own lacerations, Karin's eyes were filled with panic for Toushirou. She looked at Renji. "Can't you…?"

Renji grimly shook his head. "Kidou was always my weakest point. If only Rukia or Kira were here… If only this damn dimension wasn't made entirely of reiatsu, I'd be able to locate them…"

Tatsuki said sharply, "You can 'if only' yourself to death, but that doesn't change things. You can at least stop both of them from bleeding to death, can't you?"

Renji hesitated. Though he'd watched (or rather, underwent) countless healings, the only actual healing kidou he had performed himself was back from one shinigami academy practical test; and he hadn't gotten a very good grade on that one.

A familiar voice called out, "Renji? Tatsuki?"

Renji raised his head at the voice. "Speak of the devil…"

It was Rukia, with Rangiku and Shuuhei.

Shuuhei frowned. "Is that…?"

As they neared, the three took in the scene and their faces turned ashen. "Taichou! Karin-chan!" Rangiku cried out.

Rukia hurried over, her hand already filled with spiritual energy and emitting a faint glow. When she started to heal Karin, Karin waved her off. "Heal Toushirou first. I'm fine."

Though Rukia pursed her lips at the 'I'm fine' part, obviously thinking otherwise, she moved her purple-glowing hand to Toushirou's wound. After she had restored some amount of his reiatsu, the wound slowly began to patch itself up.

"What happened?" Shuuhei asked Renji.

"… Karin ran Hitsugaya-Taichou through with one of her bloody swords."

Unable to believe his ears, Shuuhei said incredulously, "_What?_"

"I think I heard her call him 'Caballero.'" Tatsuki said. "Isn't that the guy who… "

"Deals with illusions, yeah." Renji finished for her, and Tatsuki frowned, annoyed that he had interrupted her.

"So that means that she was under an illusion. No wonder… "

When the wound was fully healed, Rukia finally set to work on Karin's wounds. By this time, Karin was unable to protest, her body had gone into shock from blood loss. Through the haze of pain and healing light, Karin stared at Toushirou. "I'm sorry…" she repeated, her face full of guilt.

Toushirou shook his head. "Don't talk."

"Oh my. What have we here?"

The shinigami all turned.

Clara stood there, flanked by De Pie, Tartarus and numerous other male arrancar, who looked more like her worshippers than not.

Renji growled, "Luz…"

The raven-haired Espada curtsied somewhat mockingly. "I am honored that you remember my surname. But I would much rather you call me Clara."

She glanced slyly at her shoulder, where the number '6' was just visible under the gauze. "I've been promoted. Is it too much to expect a congratulations from you?"

Though Yuzu couldn't see the newcomers, she still felt three new, more powerful presences among the others and gulped. "They're not allies, right?"

Tatsuki shook her head and affirmed, "No. They're not."

That settled it. Yuzu closed her eyes in concentration. Even if she couldn't fight, she could still be of help. Tatsuki, as well as several other shinigami who had helped her train, knew of her powers, so she would use them.

Karin noticed her twin's tension and moved to sit up and ask Yuzu about it, when Rukia sternly ordered, "Stay still."

Meanwhile, Yuzu pulled at the barrier surrounding her soul, and it parted from her. Next came the harder part. She stretched the barrier, careful not to tear it lest she lose control; at the same time, if she didn't pull with enough strength, it would simply just snap back to her soul. '_One day really wasn't enough…_'

Once she had successfully stretched and separated the barriers into four – the maximum number of spiritual entities she could suppress – Yuzu focused them upon the four most powerful presences she felt among the enemies. As the suppression barriers settled upon them, she felt the physical strain slowly set upon her. Curling her hands into fists, she made herself withstand the stress on her body.

Two of these four had more spiritual power any of the shinigami she had ever practiced on. _'Had Yoruichi-san told them to hold back?'_ It might have been for the best then, but it didn't help at all now.

"Please defeat them as quickly as possible." she said aloud. Despite the fact that Yuzu's words came out in a whisper, all the people who were aware of her powers realized what she had done. One look, and they knew that Yuzu couldn't hold out for long; they immediately took action.

Renji attacked Clara, Shuuhei took on Tartarus, while Rangiku faced De Pie. Tatsuki materialized her glaive and tackled a brown-haired arrancar.

Clara unsheathed her zanpakutou and cried out, "Centella Realeza!"

But she found she couldn't perform her resurrecion. Frowning slightly in confusion, Clara tried powering a cero. It too, didn't work. She was forced to block Zabimaru with her unreleased zanpakutou; however, stripped of her spiritual powers, she was physically no match for Renji.

Similarly, the other three arrancar couldn't use their powers either. It was only a matter of time before they were driven to a corner.

Toushirou didn't understand what Yuzu's power was, but there was no one to ask as all the people who seemed to know were out battling (and overwhelming) their respective arrancar.

Meanwhile, the other arrancar looked like they were about to attack the remaining four that weren't battling. Sensing this, Toushirou gripped Hyourinmaru's hilt and the sheath melted away obligingly. He had to protect the other three; Yuzu, who was unable to see them; Rukia, who was healing Karin; and Karin, the most important girl in his life.

He released Daiguren Hyourinmaru. Ice particles swept around them, and all the arrancar shivered, at both low temperature and the fearsome spiritual pressure radiating from the shinigami before them. Though she couldn't see the source of the chill, Yuzu too shuddered at the cold, before forcing her mind back to her barriers.

It was the first time Toushirou had released his bankai after he had gained his newfound control over it. With this control, he limited the cold temperature to himself, and thought to his zanpakutou, _'Let's see how you've improved, Daiguren.'_

…

Urahara put down Benihime, looking weary. Yoruichi lightly landed beside him.

"What is it, Kisuke? You look tired, but it can't be from fighting these measly excuses of arrancar." Yoruichi stated.

A mass of dead arrancar surrounded them. Isshin stepped on a pile of arrancar to get to Urahara, and clapped him on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

After a long silence, Isshin put down his hand and said lightly, "You're taking an awfully long time for the melodramatic effect. You know, if you take too much time, it could backfire on you."

Urahara didn't lighten up at this playful banter, as Isshin had hoped.

"… Do you remember why you turned down the promotion, Isshin-san?"

There was a long silence. When Urahara turned, Kurosaki Isshin's face had turned stony.

"Are you asking this because we're in the Spirit King's dimension?" Isshin clearly wanted the subject to be over even before it had begun.

Staring wanly at him, Urahara insisted, "You must remember. After all, that's indirectly why you became a fugitive from Soul Society."

The expression on Isshin's face warned him to stay silent, but still Urahara plowed on, his face somber. "The fake sun… this whole dimension – "

Yoruichi interrupted. "Stop, Kisuke. We're already all thinking the same thing."

"No." Slowly, Urahara shook his head. "No, Yoruichi-san. You didn't see the Spirit King. You may _know_ the truth, but you don't _understand_ it. The Shiba clan - "

She interrupted again, her voice steely this time. "What _I_ understand is that we have to defeat Aizen. We are not here to disrupt the Spirit King's activi – no, _duties_, nor are we here to dig up age-old affairs."

Sighing, Urahara closed his eyes in acknowledgment. _'She's right. Soul Society will fall apart if the Spirit King falls.'_ he reminded himself.

…

Karin, who was now fully healed, thanked Rukia.

Experimentally flexing her previously injured left arm, she exclaimed, "Wow, I feel completely better!"

Slumping back with relief, Rukia replied, "Good. Ichigo would throttle me if I let you die."

Glancing at Rukia, Karin said wryly, "I highly doubt Ichi-nii would ever do that." Then she did a double take, noticing that Rukia looked even paler than usual. Worried, Karin asked, "Are you alright?"

Rukia waved her off. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine after a bit of rest."

Realizing that the consecutive healing of two heavily injured people had taken its toll on Rukia, Karin said guiltily, "I'm sorry…"

Her eyes closed, Rukia told her, "Don't be. Judging from what I heard, it was all Caballero's doing. I've wallowed in guilt before, and it doesn't help things. Just makes you feel worse. That's what Shiba Kuukaku told me."

Karin looked at Rukia, wondering what she was talking about. She considered asking, but remembering that Rukia needed rest, she went over to where her twin sat, hunched over, her head down. "Yuzu?"

Eyes tightly shut, her twin whimpered in response. "Later, Karin-chan... I need… to concentrate…" Yuzu made out. Though alarmed, Karin said no more.

With a final slash, Tatsuki defeated her opponent at last.

Moments later, Rangiku cut down De Pie as well. She looked down disdainfully at the powerless Espada, who was still shocked that his resurrecion didn't work.

"Why… won't my Cutaneo work, ah? Why won't my resurrecion... my steel skin... activate?" He sounded almost pitiful.

"That's not my business. But it looks like you relied on your 'steel skin' too much." Rangiku coldly said, and with a twitch of her hilt, Haineko curled around his neck in a cloud of dust and cut his throat.

But Yuzu seemed to have reached her limit then, as her eyes rolled up into her head and she suddenly slumped back. Before she hit the floor, Karin caught her in her arms.

"What the hell is going on here?" Karin shouted, frustrated. "Why is Yuzu like this?"

Toushirou, who had just slid Hyourinmaru back in it sheath after the rest of the arrancar had either fled or been defeated, heard the question. He looked at Tatsuki and Rangiku, who were returning. "We'll find out soon."

Clara, who had barely held out with her fencing skills until then, suddenly felt her power surge back into her. She flexed her her hand, imagining it firing a bala, or a cero. She tested her spiritual energy by using sonido first. When it worked, she smiled in triumph.

Renji's eyes widened in realization. _'Damnit… I underestimated her because I thought she had lost her powers. I should've gone bankai from the start.'_

Once again, Clara raised her zanpakutou. "Centella Realeza!" (Lightning Royalty)

This time, her resurrecion worked. Light flashed, and once Renji was able to see again, Clara had transformed into a tall, shapely woman with an elaborate headdress. She held in her hand a bright double-edged sword. Lips curving up into a smile, Clara asked him, "What do you think? Am I more suited to your tastes now?"

Renji snarled, "Get rid of that head piece and we'll talk."

Raising a well-shaped eyebrow, Clara said, "Is that a yes? Well then, I suppose you want some time alone, don't you?" She lifted her sword into the air. It turned a blinding white, and she cried, "*Espacio!" (Space)

Blinding light surrounded them.

Tartarus too, had lasted until Yuzu's breaking point. Seeing the bright light from Clara's resurrecion, Tartarus tried his own.

"*Abrume, Paño!" (suffocate, cloth)

Caught by surprise, Shuuhei didn't have time to avoid the long black cloth that whipped around him. He couldn't see; his limbs couldn't move. _'This is like Tousen-Taichou's bankai.'_ He thought.

Shuuhei struggled, but the more he did so, the more the cloth tightened until he began to choke. Obviously, the arrancar he was facing intended to suffocate him to death. Unable to breathe, Shuuhei stopped moving and thought desperately for a way to escape this binding. _'It's a risk, but I have no choice but to try.'_

Though it was muffled, Toushirou heard a shout, "Hadou 54, Haien!" Purple light flashed from the black wrapped figure that was Shuuhei. Knowing what kidou Shuuhei had used, Toushirou cursed. "Hisagi!"

Though that kidou attack was useful for long-range attacks since it incinerates the target as soon as it makes contact, it shouldn't be fired at close-range lest the user too, be fried alive.

But as the cloth receded, Shuuhei was still standing, looking rather battered and burnt, but relatively unscathed. He must have used a second kidou spell to protect himself just in time, Toushirou realized.

Tartarus scowled and tightened his grip on the long, scarf-like cloth in his hands. "What was that light?"

Shuuhei exhaled. "I admit you almost had me there."

Growling Tartarus asked again, "I asked, what was that light? How did you escape?"

Scratching his head, Shuuhei said, "I don't really like to babble during battle, but since you asked I'll answer: I fired a hadou to destroy that cloth." He nodded towards the cloth in Tartarus' hands, burnt and tattered on the edge. "Though I see that it didn't work."

Tartarus swung the cloth once more. "This cloth is made to withstand anything! A mere fire can't hope to destroy it! Your fate was sealed the moment I took out my Paño, shinigami! " He aimed the cloth towards Shuuhei's neck. "I've got you now!"

But before the Paño could wrap around his neck, Shuuhei caught it, and it twisted around his hand instead. "You really like to talk, don't you? I let…" he released Kazeshini. "…my sword speak for me."

…

Ichigo stood alone in a large chamber. It was made of marble, like everything else in the damned dimension.

"…Che. Nobody here, either."

At least back in the Seireitei, he'd had Ganjuu and later Hanatarou. In Hueco Mundo, he'd had Neliel with him, though she'd been in child form for most of the time.

Like the others, he'd tried to sense spiritual pressures of his friends. Again, like the others, he'd drawn a blank, and he'd wandered off, looking for them, defeating whatever arrancar he came across on the way. And he'd ended up in this chamber.

Ichigo was completely lost, and he couldn't even find his way out using spiritual detection.

"What the hell is up with this place… it's like it's completely made of reiatsu."

"That is correct. To be precise, it's made of the Spirit King's reiatsu."

Snapping around into a battle stance, Ichigo saw a tall and pale man with dark-green hair (not unlike moss) standing at one of the entrances. He had a shinigami captain's cloak draped over his shoulders. Seeing this, Ichigo lowered Tensa Zangetsu. "Oh, you're with us."

The mossy-haired man, as Ichigo had already dubbed the captain in his mind, raised a mossy eyebrow.

"'Us,' you say?" He took a step closer. "Who is this 'us'? I only know you are an intruder." He drew his sword. "And intruders must be eliminated."

The mossy haired man was serious, Ichigo realized.

"I am Shakuin Senchyuu, a member of the Shakuin clan, one of the Great Four Noble Houses."

Not having grown up in Soul Society, this didn't impress Ichigo much, until Mossy-Man leveled his sword at Ichigo, which he instinctively knew to be the man's zanpakutou release position. He hastily raised his hand in front of him and said, "Wait! I'm Kurosaki Ichigo! Son of Kurosaki Isshin!"

This made Mossy-Man's – Senchyuu's – sword-arm stiffen. "Kurosaki? Kurosaki, did you say?"

"Yes. Kurosaki Isshin is my father. Do you know him?" Ichigo said in relief, thinking that Senchyuu would no longer attack him.

But on the contrary, Senchyuu's face changed into one of fury. "You are the spawn of the traitor Kurosaki?"

Ichigo froze. Wait… Some very, very, vehement words had been embedded into that sentence. Spawn? Traitor? Then he realized that revealing his identity had been a mistake.

With narrowed green eyes, Senchyuu wordlessly released his zanpakutou, and glowing green, it lengthened and the hilt turned into bamboo-like shape. "Very well. Then I shall erase your soul completely. Bankai."

Ichigo's eyes widened as the owner disappeared and the sword writhed and transformed into a forest of stone spikes.

'_Oyaji…! What the hell did you - !'_

…

"So she can suppress the spiritual energies of whoever she wants?" Toushirou asked.

Tatsuki nodded. Karin glanced down at her twin. "And now she's exhausted herself."

Then Tatsuki turned to Karin. "And now it's your turn. How and why did you think Toushirou was Caballero? What illusion did you see?"

Toushirou looked very interested at this. Turning a bit red, Karin said, "Caballero took on… Well… He… " She bit down hard on her embarrassment and spilled out, "He took on Toushirou's face and then Yuzu's and when he did I hesitated and - "

Holding up her hands, Tatsuki said, "Whoa, whoa, slow down. Start from the beginning."

Taking a deep breath Karin began again, "Well, I came across Caballero along with the girl who hollowfied you, Tatsuki, and Aizen – " Karin started at her own words. "Aizen!" After gently handing Yuzu over to Tatsuki, Karin leapt to her feet. "I've got to find him. He said that he was going to overthrow the Spirit King! I have to go _now_."

Rangiku stiffened at the mention of Momo, but as Toushirou had followed Karin's suit, he didn't notice. He only threw behind him, "Matsumoto, stay here and watch over the others while Hisagi and Abarai fight." Then he ran after Karin, who had sped in the direction where Aizen had ealier disappeared after telling Caballero to dispose of her.

The Tenth Division Lieutenant closed her eyes. _'I hope he doesn't meet her… Please… don't let Taichou meet Hinamori Momo…'_

…

Titiritero had barely gotten away from that damned Kuchiki woman. He generally thought that escaping was for cowards, but killing Aizen was first and foremost in his mind.

Holding his wound and breathing raggedly, he waited in a chamber, where he _knew_ the Kurosaki girl would come. This was en route to the only path leading to the second highest concentration of spiritual energy. Which was where Aizen was.

In this state, he himself didn't stand a lit candle's chance in a tornado against Aizen. But he could still use Kyo. And for that, he needed the Kurosaki girl.

…

Toushirou was at Karin's right as she flash-stepped the way, as if she knew where she was going. He asked her, "Do you know where he went?"

Karin shook her head. "No. But if I concentrate, I can feel where in this gimongous place the most spiritual energy is clumped together."

Closing his eyes and concentrating, just as she said, Toushirou sought the highest assembly of reiatsu. And he felt it in a completely different direction than where Karin was headed right now. Popping his eyes open, he didn't hesitate in pointing it out. "We're going the wrong way. We're headed towards the _second_ most reiatsu is gathered."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Karin readily replied, "I've already been there. That's where most of the ememies, as well as our allies are. Aizen's obviously not going back there. That's why we're going to the second most spiritually dense area."

Toushirou didn't question her any further, as they had arrived at a huge marble wall. There was only one entrance before them, and beyond it, there was another wall, and it went in two different directions.

"A labyrinth…" Toushirou breathed.

He looked to his left, for Karin's agreement. But there was no one there. When had she moved? "Karin?"

His confusion quickly turned into alarm, and he looked 360 degrees around him, turning again and again. No one. Nothing. Only cold marble walls.

Had she gone ahead into the labyrinth? Without stopping to think that he would have _seen _her if she had, Toushirou ran into the maze.

…

Karin couldn't move. When Toushirou called out her name and desperately looked around, she wanted to scream 'I'm here!' but she was frozen in place, unable to breath, much less speak. Her eyes began to sting, because she couldn't blink. Through her burning eyes, she saw Toushirou plunge into the labyrinth.

As soon as he was out of sight, oxygen filled her lungs, and she found that she could blink. But she still couldn't move.

She knew that she had encountered none other than….

"Titiritero." She growled. "Why are you doing this? We're on the same side, remember?"

A heavily injured Titiritero came into her line of sight.

"Same side? I am only working to attain one thing. _Freedom_. And Kyo will help me get it. But since he's already evolved too much for regular compulsion to work, I can only use you to control him."

He started pacing back and forth, and Karin's eyes followed him. After an undeterminable amount of time, she heard someone coming.

…

The Spirit King chuckled as he watched the desperate little ants scuttling around in his palace, unaware that he was manipulating the palace directions so he could watch the most interesting scenario. He wanted this to last for as long as possible.

That Urahara Kisuke character seemed to have noticed something, for sure, but the King didn't think it worth his attention.

Now, this Hinamori Momo and Hitsugaya Toushirou had some potential for an interesting drama, he saw with amusement. He should arrange a meeting…

…

Still spriting through the maze, Toushirou called out for Karin again.

"Karin! Answer me!"

He looked around desperately. For the millionth time, he cursed this dimension. He banged a fist against the marble wall.

"Karin!" He yelled once more.

He didn't notice the figure behind him.

"Shirou…chan?"

…

…

**A/N[PartA]** Every time I think 'this is the hardest chapter to write'… the next chapter is even harder. The creative/literary respites for me past the first three chapters, were few and far between. And this was by _far _the hardest chapter to write. Here's to hoping the coming chapters will be easier… though I doubt it… T.T

**A/N[PartB]** You don't need to read this, but it's recommended if you're curious why I name the characters as I do, and how I go about the research. (which may or may not have involved copious amounts of time spent on Bleach wiki, hunting for relatively accurate info. Oh, the things I do for partially canon fanfiction…)

**Name Etymology:**

Okay, you guys *may* have noticed that I use etymologist-ish words for foreign names. I dunno why I do, but it's just... compulsive.

_**Spanish:**_ I don't know – any – Spanish, so I just used an online dictionary for those, and there's no real deep meaning behind them. Just descriptions of whatever I'm using them for, and a little planning on my part for the arrancar's respective resurrecions, as I noticed that Grimmjow's last name (Jaegerjaques) looked a little like the word 'Jaguar.' And then I saw his resurrecion. Big revelation time. (not really) So I chunkily took whole Spanish words to create the arrancar names, their zanpakutou, the resurrecion command, and some attacks. Can you understand why I didn't – _couldn't_ – bother to make them sound all nice and pretty like Kubo Tite did for those of you who know Spanish? (Whether he's grammatically accurate or not, I have no idea. Though judging from the English from most of his chapter titles, I'm inclined to think that he isn't.)

_**Japanese:**_ I am a little familiar with the Japanese language, so for the Japanese names, I put in a little more effort. (No offense to the Spanish and Hispanic meant. I'm just not familiar with the Spanish language, and even _**I**_ didn't want to learn a whole nother language for the sole purpose of writing a Bleach fanfic. =_=)

**Mission 1a:** Decide a name for Byakuya's "aunt."  
Step 1: Take a look at the known Kuchiki family members' names, and look for patterns.  
- Byakuya's Grandfather – _Ginrei_ = Silver Pinnacle  
- Byakuya's Father – _Soujun_ = Blue Purity_  
- Byakuya_: White…random Buddhist prayer of compassion and mercy often used in Japanese names… eh.  
In case you didn't notice, there's a color in all the Kuchiki's names. Even Hisana = 'red truthfulness,' even though she's only a Kuchiki by marriage. Oh Kubo Tite… You and your name fetishes…

The inevitable conclusion: Kubo Tite's formula for the Kuchikis' name = **Color** + **anything related to something good or superior in general.**  
In order to keep with the color scheme of the born-into-family-Kuchiki, I thought that either some shade of gray or shade of blue would work. The first shade of blue I thought of was navy. Then I looked up 'dark blue.' It was 'Kon.' =_= So I decided on a brighter hue of blue, and after trial and error, I ended up with 'Azure.'

**Sei (Azure) + Refinement (Shou) = Seishou = Byakuya's made up aunt**

It took me a long time to make her name sound feminine. Why? Because all the virtues are in male names, or made it sound like a Japanese man's name. :[  
_Examples:_ Azure Justice? Seigi. Azure Truth? Seishin. Azure Benevolence? Seijyou. ALL OF THESE SOUND LIKE MALE NAMES.  
If I'd known how difficult it would be for me to come up with a feminine name for a Kuchiki, I would have made Seishou a guy. As it is, I think that Seishou kind of sounds like a guy name, but I feel that it's the most androgynous of them all. It was a close battle, which Seizei (Azure Honor) almost won.

[PS: If you were wondering what color Rukia was… there's no Kanji for her name – though I have reason to believe that the 'ru' in her name points to the flower 'rue,' the English name for 'wijnruit'… Hardcore Bleach fans may look at vol. 16, "Night of Wijnruit," where Rukia has flashbacks of Kaien]

**Mission1b:** Give Seishou a fitting zanpakutou and shikai.  
After seeing the similarity between Isshin and Ichigo's zanpakutou, I assumed that in some cases, zanpakutou and their shikai ability are kind of hereditary. So I based her zanpakutou off of Byakuya's.

**Mission 2**: Make up names for the remaining two noble houses.  
I noticed that both 'Kuchiki'(rotting tree… what a nice last name…) and 'Shihouin' (four maple houses) had trees in it. Then I began to think, 'Oh, maybe the names of all the noble houses are based on trees!' Then to make sure, I looked up what 'Shiba' (a fallen noble house) meant. Turns out,  
**Shiba = Resolute Wave**  
Okay, so much for the 'tree' theory.  
But water's still an element! So, I supposed anything related to nature would be okay. The final product:

**Shakuin = Stone Fortress **(btw, the name of the guy fighting Ichigo, Senchyuu = Thrashing Pole)  
**Nurai = Wrathful Lightning**  
Hey, if Kuchiki means 'rotting tree,' then 'wrathful' is fair game.

I originally intended for a Shihouin to make an appearance, but my imagination exhausted itself and I have no idea what Yoruichi's zanpakutou ability is, and then I would have to plan _another _reunion… and… just… no. I refuse. The story's complex enough as it is.

*Faints*


	35. Purest Rage

**Chapter 35: Purest Rage**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Has anybody read the latest Bleach chapter! I'm so damn EXCITED! Though I don't think it's going to last very long… D: Well, it's still progress :D  
…On a calmer note, I had trouble keeping track of who faced off who and when they faced off… =_=  
I'm reaaaally hoping this story isn't going to reach the forties. I might have to lengthen my chapters…. o_o;; That is, if my automatic chapter-ender-sensor lets me. =_=

…

**Chapter 35**

Purest Rage

…

"Karin!"

Kyo burst into the room.

When he saw her at the mercy of Titiritero, though his face darkened in anger, he did not look the least bit surprised. He had already felt Titiritero's presence together with Karin's.

"What do you want from me, _Titiritero_?" He refused to call that man his master.

Titiritero stared at Kyo for a moment, and then laughed so hard that Karin thought his wounds might start bleeding again. "Oh? You can call me by name? And how do you feel? Nauseous? Dizzy? Breathless?"

Titiritero was beginning to remind Karin of a pharmacy drug commercial.

Despite all this, Kyo growled, "Just tell me what you want."

Sitting down on the marble floor, Titiritero gave a grim smile. "I want you to bring me Aizen's head. Do it however you like. Worm into his grace, backstab him, try anything."

Kyo narrowed his eyes. "Are you telling me to do what even _you_ couldn't do?" When Titiritero merely looked at him, Kyo gave a short, humorless laugh. "Or what? You'll kill my sister?" His face darkened and he summoned his black swords, which radiated black heat waves, something Karin had never seen before. "What's to stop me from slaying you here and now?"

Titiritero leaned back against a wall and said in amusement, "You think I would allow my own creations to kill me?" His face hardened and he growled, "You'll die before you ever reach me."

Realizing that this wasn't a bluff, Kyo lowered his swords, and the black heat vanished. Seeing that Kyo was ready to comply, Titiritero said, "Aizen will be heading up to the throne room of this palace, where the Spirit King resides. He is in the room just beyond here."

Karin's eyes widened. That was just where Toushirou had gone.

She struggled to break free. "I'll go with Kyo and kill Aizen! I won't break my promise, so let me go right now!"

Titiritero regarded her. "No. I've let the other boy – Toushirou, was it? – go there, so Kyo may fight alongside him."

A black-haired woman stepped in. "I believe the wiser answer would be 'yes.' Why don't you let her go?"

Titiritero and Kyo turned to face her, Titiritero with a hint of fear. Karin, however, who could not look at her (as she was still frozen) asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Kuchiki Seishou, of the Royal Guard. Now," Seishou turned to Titiritero.

"Kuchiki? As in Kuchiki Rukia? Are you related?" Karin interrupted.

Seishou stopped. "Rukia… you mean the girl that my nephew adopted as a sister some fifty years ago? I haven't seen her, but I suppose I am related to her in a way. You know of her?"

Karin grit her teeth. "Okay Seishou-san, everything can be explained over a cup of tea _after_ this battle is over. I think we can wait until then."

Seishou's lips quirked into the faintest of smiles. _'Though her manners are rough, I rather like this child.'_

"That's a reasonable suggestion." Then she turned back to Titiritero. "Will you release her and surrender, or will you only let her go only after I have taken your life? Make your choice."

Though Karin didn't think that was much of a choice, she didn't comment on it, as her freedom of movement was on the line.

When Titiritero didn't answer, Seishou slowly unsheathed her sword once again. Remembering what that zanpakutou had done to him, Titiritero gingerly put a hand to his wound.

"If what you want is your fellow intruder's death, why don't you just wait for the Royal Guard to take care of him?"

Titiritero's eyes narrowed. "…Even with your skills, you cannot defeat him."

That didn't even make Seishou blink. "That remains to be seen. But if indeed it is so, does it not occur to you that others of the Royal Guard may be more powerful than I?" Training her zanpakutou towards Titiritero, Seishou addressed Kyo. "Have you killed any shinigami?"

Puzzled at the abrupt change of subject, Kyo replied, "No… But what does that have to do with – "

Seishou cut through his words. "Then go. It seems that you will help our cause rather than harm it, so take your sister and leave this place. We will discuss you and your comrades' transgressions by coming to this dimension after this battle is finished." She sounded faintly amused as she added, "Over a cup of tea."

Missing the humor, Kyo nervously nodded and dashed to Karin, tearing her away from the wires and reiatsu.

Karin grimaced horribly in pain as she felt her skin brutally _ripped_ away from the wires.

When he saw this, Titiritero lunged for them. "You think I'd let you - !"

He was stopped by a sword to his nose. As it surged forward, he just barely swerved to avoid it. Enraged, he glared at Seishou.

"There are three things I find unforgivable. Breaking the law. Killing my subordinates. And last of all…" her sword became liquid once again. "…people using children to do their filthy work."

She wordlessly released her zanpakutou and her sword became liquid once again.

"Thus far, you have transgressed in all three aspects, so I will kill you here. Do not expect to go any further."

She released her bankai, enveloping Titiritero in a flood of water.

…

"Shirou…chan?"

Toushirou froze at the achingly familiar voice. Ever so slowly, he turned his body, dreading what – or who – he would see.

It took all of his self-control to keep him from dropping his zanpakutou. He had suspected it since the mansion… but he'd hoped… no, _depended_… on it not being true. That it had been born of his paranoia – paranoia even _he_ knew he had, though he'd never admit to it.

"Mo…mo?" His mouth struggled to form her name.

She no longer wore her shinigami robes. She no longer wore her hair up in a bun. She no longer wore what he had once affectionately referred to as 'that dumb smile.'

But she was undeniably Hinamori Momo. His Momo.

At the same time, his heart clenched at the realization that she was not _his_ Momo. That Momo had died three years ago.

"It _is – _you, Shirou-chan." She stepped closer to him and he took a step back. "What are – you doing – here?" She asked haltingly.

Her speech pattern was only a faint shadow of what she had used when they were children. A shattered copy.

Eyes shadowed, Toushirou asked her, "Why are you still alive…? Hinamori."

He referred to her by her surname; trying to distance himself from her.

Momo didn't answer, but the answer came from an unexpected source.

"That would be because she has merged with the Hougyoku."

Toushirou whipped around at the voice.

Aizen, in all his white-robed glory, stood at the entrance. Momo's expression brightened when she saw him. "Aizen-Taichou!" She bounded over to his side, hanging from his arm.

She would have been too shy to do that back when she was the Fifth Division Lieutenant, Toushirou vaguely thought, as the larger portion of his brain struggled to process the sentence that Aizen had just uttered.

Quelling Momo's excitement with a look, Aizen took a few steps into the chamber to subtly shake her off. He amended, "Well, to be precise, I infused the remains of her spirit with the remains of the Hougyoku."

Pretending not to see Toushirou's look of horror, Aizen elaborated conversationally, "Since then, the Hougyouku has fed on - and taken over - her, though Hinamori-kun's stronger emotions still break through from time to time."

Finally looking in Toushirou's direction, Aizen said, "She wishes for whatever I wish for, and that resulted in the opening of the portal leading to this dimension, where everything is _fascinatingly _false. I wished for hollowfication as well, in order to distract you shinigami from stopping me. Even the kidnapping of Kurosaki Karin was orchestrated in order to distract the Kurosaki father and son." He sighed melodramatically. "I admit I had high hopes for her. But in the end, she was just like her brother. A disappointment."

The temperature dropped abruptly.

Seeing that his words had riled the young captain up, Aizen's smiled. "Though I discovered something interesting in the process." Looking Toushirou straight in the eye, Aizen's smile widened and he proceeded to goad him further. "So, does Hinamori-kun's _replacement_ live up to your standards?"

Toushirou stiffened at this. "… A replacement…you say?"

Aizen shrugged. "Well, she's certainly not as naïve, though for a while, she seemed just as malleable. I, personally, was impressed with Caballero's idea to create Kyo from Kurosaki Karin's soul. He had even foreseen this and obtained a sample of her soul."

A cold breeze blew around the chamber, creating wind when there hadn't been any before.

Yet Aizen still continued, "Kurosaki Karin believed the lie so easily. I wonder if it was because we took advantage of the fact that she had a brother and twin? Just that Kyo played the role of both."

The wind grew even colder, whipping around them like a knife. In the back of Toushirou's mind, Hyourinmaru whispered,** 'Toushirou. Don't do this.'** Toushirou ignored him.

Realizing that Toushirou had almost reached his boiling point – or rather, 'freezing point' – Aizen smirked. "I even briefly considered taking some shards from Hinamori-kun and implanting them into her as well, though I realized soon enough that she would fight off the will of mere shards of the Hougyouku much more easily than a broken, insane soul could. It was a pity that I couldn't harness her completely."

Toushirou's fists tightened. When Toushirou spoke again, it was in a dangerously quiet whisper. "One more word… and I swear I'll rip that tongue out." He lifted his eyes, his gaze icy.

Aizen breathed out noisily, his breath clouding in front of him from the cold.

"Oh? Hitsugaya-Taichou, you've improved at controlling your spiritual presence. You can change the temperature to this extent and not leak out a single drop of spiritual pressure. I suppose you gained this power to _protect _someone, after you failed to do so for Hinamori-kun? Is that person you wish to protect so badly Kurosaki Karin? I knew that she would make Kurosaki Isshin and his son waver, but didn't know she meant this much to _you._ A pity. If I'd known before, I would have used her more."

That was the last straw.

'**Toushirou!' **Hyourinmaru cried out in his mind. But Toushirou was beyond hearing or caring. As he stared at Aizen, his eyes glowed a bright blue, and all of a sudden, a whirlwind of ice surrounded him, hiding him from view.

…

As Kyo increased his speed, he tightened his hold on Karin, whom he carried on his shoulder.

"Are you okay, Karin?" he asked her.

"Yes! I'm fine! So put me down already!"

He abruptly stopped, almost sending Karin flying off of his shoulder. '_Thank you, Newton's first law of physics.' _thought Karin sarcastically, as she clambered down from Kyo's shoulder.

Dusting herself off, Karin saw that they had arrived at a staircase. It was marble, like everything else. And it was incredibly long. Well, more like endless. They looked up and it seemed to disappear, without ending anywhere.

Their jaws agape, they looked at each other incredulously.

"Uhh… Is you stamina up for flash-stepping… up an… undeterminable distance?" Kyo asked uncertainly, voicing exactly what Karin was thinking.

Karin swallowed. "…We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

They turned back to the stairs, and started sprinting up.

After 126 steps, Karin lost count. Breathless, she pulled at Kyo's sleeve, indicating she needed to stop.

Kyo obliged only too willingly, gasping for breath himself.

As they tried to recover their breaths, they stared up the stairs in dismay. Even after all that running, the top still wasn't visible.

"How much - d'ya reckon – is left – until - we reach – the top?" Karin panted.

"I… don't know… any better than you." was Kyo's reply.

Karin grasped at straws. "Ya think… that we're not moving? That we're on – a – magical escalator heading – downwards or something?"

Kyo snorted. "Can't be – look down. The ground – is barely visible."

"But we still can't see the top!" Karin cried out in despair, collapsing spread-eagle over several steps.

"Would you like to head back down, then?" Kyo looked at her seriously.

Briefly, very briefly, Karin was tempted. But she thought of Toushirou and shook her head.

After what seemed like an eternity of physical torture, finally, they reached the top and collapsed, drenched in sweat. They weren't given even a minute to recover before a voice interrupted their desperately needed respite.

"You did very well to reach here. I was making the stairs long on purpose, thinking that you would give up halfway."

They both froze at the voice.

It came from everywhere and nowhere.

Sitting up, Karin glanced around and asked warily, "Who… are you?"

"I think the better question to ask would be, '_where'_ are you?" Kyo added.

"I am everywhere. I am this dimension. But my consciousness usually resides here."

There was a pensive silence, and they had the uncomfortable feeling that they were being probed; examined.

"Oh~ I see." There was a hint of amusement in the voice this time, and the voice didn't echo around anymore. It sounded more focused and came from a certain direction. It was more childish as well.

"And exactly what do you see?" Karin asked flatly. It occurred to her she was being incredibly rude, but after running up those infernal stairs, she had no inclination to force herself to be polite to someone she couldn't even see. Especially when the owner of the voice had just admitted to being the architect of those damned stairs.

Air – or was it spiritual pressure? – warped and swirled, taking shape, and a small figure appeared before them.

The figure wore peculiar yellow clothes and a hat with beads rattling on it. As if the figure were emulating a Chinese emperor, albeit a miniature.

But there was one big difference between the figure before them and the typical Chinese emperor, besides size.

There was nothing where the hands and face should be. The midget was transparent.

Karin and Kyo stared at, or rather _through,_ the cellophane being in front of them.

"I amend my question. _What_. Are. You…?" Karin punctuated.

She couldn't see his – if it was indeed a male – facial expression, but she could tell from his voice that he was peeved.

"Tsk. Such an insolent child." His child-like voice became airy again, as he put his invisible hands behind his back and began to walk in a leisurely manner before them. "And that is no concern of yours."

Karin and Kyo raised their eyebrows at each other, both thinking of the irony that what seemed like a rude, snide, and invisible child was calling Karin an 'insolent child.'

Karin suddenly had a faceful of beads as the little figure bent as if to peer at her closely. She gulped and instinctively backed up. It was a tad unnerving to stare through a hat and clothes in the exact place where a head should be. Rather like staring through an arrancar's hole.

"As to your question about what exactly I see… Though it _is_ your business, seeing as how it concerns you and your 'twin' soul over there… I think I'm going to keep that a secret." There was an irritating grin in his voice.

Before Karin could protest, he continued, "As a reward for you reaching here, I will allow you to see something else that _should_ be of concern to you."

A light surrounded both Karin and Kyo, and before they knew it, they were in a freezing chamber.

Bewildered, they looked up and saw that there was a whirlwind with them.

In the same room.

Right in front of them.

Eyes widening in alarm, they scrambled as far away from the whirlwind as possible, searching for an exit. While they did, heavy winds that escaped from this whirlwind tore at them.

Karin cursed. There _was_ an exit, but the whirlwind was conveniently placed _right _in the way. How the hell were they going to get past the whirlwind? And why was there a whirlwind in a room in the first place? Was it some sick joke of the cellophane kid? She felt like her hair was going to be ripped off her scalp if the wind blew any harder. As it was, the whirlwind spat out chunks of ice at them. Holding up an arm to defend herself from stray bits of ice flying her way, Karin looked around for the kid who had brought them here.

The child was nowhere to be seen.

"Damnit! That kid!" She screamed over the wind. "How is _this_ supposed to be of 'concern to us'?"

"Well, _now _it is, seeing as how we've been deposited smack in the middle of a storm that might rip us up into pieces!" Kyo bellowed back. He shivered violently, and added, "Or freeze us!"

"Does it matter which?" Karin yelled sarcastically.

Kyo was about to shoot back some snarky comment, when he froze.

But it wasn't because of the cold.

"Aizen…"

Though the name was growled under his breath and was immediately snatched away by the fierce wind, Karin still heard it. She whipped her head around in the direction Kyo was staring.

She spotted two figures in white, the smaller one looking at the whirlwind in fear, the taller one looking on passively. No. With amusement.

Trust the father of all bastards to find a murderous whirlwind _amusing_, Karin thought. With difficulty, she summoned Koutetsu, and leapt towards Aizen.

Even as she attacked, a brown eye turned her way. Resisting the urge to leap back, instead, she hurled a sword at him, willing it to stay even after it left her grip. Though it did keep its form, Aizen had disappeared before it could hit him.

"Karin!" She turned at Kyo's voice. She glimpsed him, but he was defending himself from… herself?

Suddenly, everything was shrouded in fog. Karin knew that the fog couldn't be real; if it were, the herculean winds would blow them away.

Karin grit her teeth. "Hypnosis!" She yelled. "He's using hypnosis!" A figure that looked like Kyo shot out of the fog to attack her. "Where is the real you?" She hollered.

There was a call back, "I won't attack you, I can tell where you ar – "

He was cut off. Panicking, Karin turned to block an attack from another Kyo look-alike.

She tried to feel where the real Kyo was.

But she couldn't. Not in this dimension.

He was a part of her _soul_. Why couldn't she feel him?

Despairing, she opened her eyes. "Kyo! Where are you?"

A Kyo came out and attempted to cut her with his two black swords. "I'm here, Karin." He said with an evil smile.

Blocking his attack, Karin thrust him off, and he glided back into the mist. She couldn't initiate and attack; not after she'd made that mistake with Toushirou.

She couldn't trust any of her senses.

Was it time to rely on her hollow?

Karin shuddered at the thought. Apparently she couldn't even trust her own mind. She had no idea whether her hollow harbored a grudge against Kyo or not. Nor whether she would refrain from attacking him even if she didn't.

'_Koutetsu!'_ she cried out in her mind._ 'Help me!'_

'**I can't. Not as long as Kyuu exists so close to me.' **Koutetsu replied faintly.

Once again, what looked like Kyo came out of the darkness, his blades raised.

But another figure shot in front of her and blocked the attack.

"Kyo!" She exclaimed.

The attacking figure dissolved back into the mist.

Kyo said, "I've got your back. You take mine."

Karin grinned as she replied, "That's the ticket."

…

Titiritero was surrounded by darkness. He was pretty sure that he would bleed to death.

"I have allowed you to live long enough to repent for your atrocious deeds. Have you done so?" came the damn woman's voice.

"…Hell no…" He gave a painful grin. "Repent isn't a word in my dictionary. Just kill me already, woman. I'm not going to beg for my life. Not even for my freedom. I haven't sunken that low." He closed his eyes. "Death might well be the way to freedom, anyways."

Seishou stared at him impassively. Just killing him would be more merciful than the man, who had massacred her subordinates, deserved. But she would do nothing so barbaric as to draw out his death to increase his pain intentionally.

"Very well." Seishou dealt the final blow.

Sealing her blade, Seishou looked down with pity at Titiritero, who was now still in death. Like a broken puppet.

"May the souls that are part of your menos form be at peace." She murmured, as she turned away and left the room.

As she left, she felt something that she had only felt once before.

When a man had released _it_ to protect them all.

She strode quickly from the room, thinking, _'I need to talk to the others. Especially Hikifune Kirio.'_

…

From different places, both Kyo and Vienta felt their master die.

Vienta felt no grief. She hadn't been made to feel any, in the first place. The only reason why she existed was to kill Hinamori Momo. After she succeeded, she would return to wood, what she had first been made from. _'Now, what is your raison d'etre, Kyo?' _she thought, as she ran ever closer to the end of her mission.

There wasn't any grief on Kyo's part as well; he had no attachment to Titiritero. But he did feel a trace of pity for the man who had created him, and how he had craved freedom.

In the end, the puppeteer had only amounted to a puppet himself. Aizen's puppet. Manipulated, unable to break free of his strings, like Kyo had broken free of him.

He blocked an attack from an illusion that looked like Karin.

He called out, "You alright, Karin?"

From behind him, there was the answer, "Yeah! You?"

To prevent themselves from being separated again, Karin and Kyo had gone back to back.

For a while, they remained this way, Karin fighting against herself and the occasional Kyo-look-alike, and Kyo against himself and Karin-look-alikes. There was no sign of the mist clearing away.

'_Looks like this battle is going to last a while.' _Kyo thought.

…

Isshin heaved a sigh and sheathed Engetsu.

"That's the last one, I think."

"The stragglers will be taken care of by the Royal Guards." said Yoruichi pragmatically. She cast an amused glance at her companions. "We've gotten a lot slower while we've been away from battle, eh, Isshin? Eh, Kisuke?"

But the two didn't reply. Each was lost in thought.

Her lips thinned. Plopping down on the ground, she demanded, "Alright, now that the first half of the battle is over, let's have it, before we head into the second. I don't think I'll be able to fight properly without knowing. What on earth is on your minds?"

There was no answer, so Yoruichi stabbed in the most likely direction.

"Is it the topic from before? About this dimension? About the Spirit King?"

Noting that both men weren't looking at her, Yoruichi narrowed her eyes.

"So let's get this straight. Kisuke." She turned to the platinum blonde man first. "_You_ are bothered just by _being_ in this dimension. Because," her eyes flickered to Isshin, "Isshin released _that_ to cover up for your _mistake_."

Next, she rounded on Isshin.

"And Isshin. _You're_ uncomfortable... no. _Troubled_ by being here, because you knew what the Spirit King was when you refused the promotion. Then Urahara made that _mistake_ and you were forced to release _that_ to fight off the _thing_ that was unleashed by the King's wrath."

Their silence only confirmed her words.

"Say something!" she insisted.

Finally, Urahara said, "I'm sorry, Isshin-san. I've always regretted it."

Isshin turned his head away. "Idiot. I've forgotten about it long ago. Besides, if it weren't for you, I would never have met Masaki. And you made me that gigai, too."

Urahara smiled sadly and pushed his hat down. "Is that so…"

Yoruichi crossed her arms. "As touching as this is, I'm still not getting something."

Both men looked at her. Yoruichi, admitting to not understanding something? _The_ Shihouin Yoruichi? Seeing the face expressions on their faces, Yoruichi said irritably, "What, I can't ask a question?"

They shook their heads, nervous. Battle or not, Yoruichi could be violent even to her comrades when angered. Well, _more_ violent; she was violent even when she wasn't angry.

Presently, she continued in an agitated tone, "What on earth possessed you to do that, Kisuke? Were you trying to anger the Spirit King on purpose? Or was it just you and you infernal curiosity?"

Urahara hung his head. "Part of the latter. But a part of me also wanted to harness it. Until I knew what it truly was."

Yoruichi gaped at him. "_Harness the King? _I've dealt with your craziness since we were young… but I never knew you were stark raving _insane_."

Isshin said abruptly, "We've spent enough time ranting about the past. I think we should get going. My kids are out there, and even if what you say about Yuzu's ability is true and she's the first spiritual suppressor that's showed up in centuries… she won't be able to handle Aizen's spiritual pressure."

Getting to her feet, Yoruichi dusted herself off. "Let's hope you don't encounter the guy who opposed you back when you were protecting everybody, Isshin. Shakuin… what was his name?"

"Senchyuu. Shakuin Senchyuu." Isshin replied grimly. Running a hand through his hair, he groaned, "Great. I forgot he was promoted as a royal guard here. _All_ of my children are here, and _he's_ on the loose. I hope they don't encounter him. And if they do, they'd better not be stupid enough to announce their _whole_ name."

…

Ichigo sneezed during his battle against his mossy-haired opponent. He almost didn't dodge the stone clone's attack in time.

"Who's talking about me behind my back?" Ichigo grumbled.

"Stop talking to yourself, Kurosaki spawn!"

Narrowing his eyes, Ichigo blocked a direct attack from his opponent himself.

"Stopped hiding behind your clones, have you?" Ichigo said. "And I'll thank you to stop referring to me as 'Kurosaki spawn' you mossy-haired git."

"What, _moss_y – ?" Senchyuu's eyes bulged with outrage. "Why you…!"

Ichigo blocked Senchyuu's next, more reckless, attack with a bare hand. "What's the matter? Did anger dull your sword?" He shoved the sword aside. "I haven't used this against you because you're one of Soul Society's shinigami, but this fight has gone on long enough."

He put his left arm on his right, and held Zangetsu out horizontally in front of him. "Ban. Kai."

…

Karin and Kyo were fighting back-to-back, until they suddenly found themselves in completely different places, surrounded by fog again.

Karin looked around, but all she could see was the thick gray mist. Though Kyo could feel Karin, Karin couldn't feel Kyo. She closed her eyes, straining, for anything, anything besides the static of the whole dimension.

Later, she would regret ever closing her eyes on the battlefield.

"Karin!" She heard Kyo shout, and she opened her eyes just in time to see Aizen's silhouette through the mist and Kyo diving for her.

In that single moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion for Karin.

The sword was headed for her.

But what Aizen's zanpakutou pierced was Kyo, who had thrown himself in the way just in time.

Droplets of blood flew everywhere, and Karin's eyes widened with horror.

Kyo had taken the attack meant for her.

He had taken the attack _meant for her._

_For her._

Not having expected Kyo to take his attack instead of Karin, Aizen's expression turned into surprise for a single moment. He then cruelly sliced sideways to free his sword from what he viewed as a mere chunk of flesh. He leapt back and the mist disappeared, and Kyo fell back onto Karin, blood spraying from his wound.

"Kyo!" Karin screamed.

Afraid to shake him lest he lose more blood, she gathered him into her arms and sank down to the floor. She no longer cared they were in the midst of battle.

Frantically, she searched for something to stem the blood steadily pouring out of his wound. Giving up as she didn't see anything, she tore strips off from her shirt, and tried to bandage him up. Though the back of her mind knew it was a fatal wound, and that tying it up wouldn't help one bit, she still tried.

"Don't… bother. I wouldn't have lasted much longer after my creator's death, anyways." He gave her a bloody grin. "Don't look so sad, Karin. You're my twin, aren't you?" He touched her cheek.

Karin nodded without hesitation, forcing her expression into something less despairing. But try as she might, she couldn't keep her tears from rolling down her face.

A tear trickled out his eye as well. "Stupid," he coughed up blood. "You're making me cry too."

Karin clasped his hand and he squeezed weakly back.

"You'll live. You have to." She swallowed the painful lump in her throat. "You'll continue to be happy with our family. With me."

He only smiled, as if to say that he wished it could be so.

"No matter… how brief it was… I was happy." He smiled at her, pouring all his emotions into that one smile.

How happy he had been to even have memories of her, even if they were fabricated… how happy he had been when they had trained together… how happy he had been every moment he had spent with her…

And how happy he was to die protecting her.

"Stay… strong… Karin…"

Her name was the last word on his lips. Then the light in his onyx eyes faded, and Karin was left holding his hand in disbelief. Tears streaked down her face. Wiping the tears hastily aside, she gripped his hand even harder, and tried to smile. "You're playing around, right? You used to do this all the time when we were little…" But then it occurred to her their shared memories weren't real.

"No. No. No, no, no. Kyo? Answer me!" She shook him. "Kyo!" But it was no use. He was gone.

Then she looked wildly around for his spirit. There was nothing. "Damnit! Stop playing games with me! Even if you're dead, you should still be here in soul form! You're human! You're still…"

'_Puppets might not be able to go to Soul Society.'_ Kyo's voice from what seemed ages ago echoed through her head. Her fists clenched.

"KYO!" She let out a heartwrenching cry.

All of a sudden, the whirlwind subsided. A tall man stood in the center.

Like magnets, Karin's eyes were drawn towards him.

The shoulders and chest of his bare torso were clad in ice, which extended down to his right arm and ended in a familiar dragon head. A torn black hakama adorned him from waist down. He had long silver hair, with a mane of bangs; his face too, was covered with a partial mask of ice. He had wings of ice.

Aizen looked at Toushirou, his face showing no hint of the surprise he was no doubt feeling.

Karin looked at him and whispered, "Tou…shirou…?"

Though she couldn't be sure, it seemed like his single visible eye had flickered over in her direction for a moment.

His husky voice answered her question, his gaze on Aizen.

"Prepare yourself, Aizen."

…

…

A/N: Yikes! Who saw that coming?  
Hinamori and the Hougyouku? Hmmm... And yeah. I know for a fact that some of you will see Kyo's death and think 'Good riddance'… and some others will be very sad. I myself feel a bite bereaved, because he was my OC... but on Karin's behalf… ;D You'll see.


	36. The Spirit King I

**Chapter 36: The Spirit King I**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: In case you're wondering what Toushirou's form looks like… This is what I was working on… My drawings are improving? Let me know. **crystallinex. deviantart #/d3e4xh7** [Again, get rid of the spaces. Ugh, I _really _need another way to do this…]

…

**Chapter 36**

The Spirit King

…

Hikifune Kirio had _not_ known what she was signing up for when she had accepted the promotion. She had expected to lead shinigami as she did back when she was the captain of the Twelfth Division, running the occasional errand, and protecting the King.

Yet not only did the King turn out to be entirely something else than she'd thought, she also had to use her zanpakutou abilities to clean up after 'comrades' like Shakuin.

Though his was of one of the Four Great Noble Houses, he certainly didn't act like a noble. He just touted the name around. If it hadn't been for his spiritual abilities, she got the distinct feeling that he wouldn't have been recruited in the first place.

Or else Soul Society and his clan were more than eager to get rid of him.

Pursing her lips, she swept up the remaining pebbles beside an unconscious Shakuin Senchyuu.

Presently, he stirred and groaned.

"Urghhh… Hikifune…?"

Neatly depositing the pebbles, Kirio said coldly, "So you're awake, Shakuin. A pity."

Senchyuu froze in the process of working out a kink in his neck.

"What did you say?"

She turned away from him. "And all the more deaf for it."

He leapt to his feet, and immediately looked as if he regretted it.

"Augh…"

Clucking her tongue, Kirio remarked, "Be grateful that you're still alive. From what I could tell, that boy was strong. Why did you pick a fight with him anyways? We have no reason to turn away help from fellow shinigami."

Grimacing, Senchyuu managed, "He's Kurosaki Isshin's son."

Kirio froze. "Isshin…"

"Yes." Senchyuu spat. "The man that 'saved' us all, as you and Kuchiki like to say."

She sheathed her sword with one fluid movement.

"That would be because he did. You are either a very faithful or very stolid man, to still harbor a grudge over his so-called 'betrayal.'"

"But he unleashed his – "

Then they both felt something clashing against their own spiritual energies, overwhelming them and even conquering them.

Kirio recognized the calibre of the spiritual energy. The same calibre as the one Isshin had used aeons ago. But it wasn't Isshin.

"Th… this is…" Senchyuu carped, until Kirio quelled him with a look.

Kirio, though younger than Senchyuu, was not only more powerful, but also in better shape than he and his voice died in his throat.

"If you are done babbling, then go on ahead towards the antechamber, where I believe the main battle is taking place. Our _fellow shinigami_ may acquire your assistance. You will ignore the spiritual pressure just now. Understand?"

Her tone left no room for argument.

She sent him off without healing him, and as he staggered off she lapsed into deep thought, awash in memories that she'd rather have not remembered.

…

Alerted by the feeling of familiar spiritual particles, Isshin looked up.

Yoruichi noticed his distraction.

"What's wrong, Isshin?"

"…Something's going on."

Repressing the urge to roll her eyes, Yoruichi ground out, "Could you be _any_ less specific?"

Without bothering to answer her, Isshin ran out of the room.

"Oi! Wait!"

As they dashed after Isshin, Urahara narrowed his eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, this energy was…

…

Karin stared at the transformed Toushirou.

"Tou…shi…rou…?"

Though he had transformed, that posture was unmistakable.

So it had been Toushirou in the whirlwind the whole time. He had been the cause of the freezing temperature.

But Toushirou focused only on Aizen.

"Prepare yourself, Aizen."

If Karin had thought the temperature was cold, it was nothing compared to Toushirou's voice as he leveled his sword of ice at Aizen.

And Toushirou struck.

But Momo moved with alarming speed and blocked the blow with a bare hand.

"Momo…" Toushirou said with disbelief.

Aizen smirked. "Oh, you won't get to me, Hitsugaya-'Taichou.' You'll have to go through your precious childhood friend first."

Karin looked up in shock. The girl that helped hollowfy people was Toushirou's childhood friend?

Smirk widening, Aizen asked rhetorically, "Or was it more than 'just friends'?"

Toushirou clenched his teeth, unable to look at Karin, who he knew was looking at him, confused. So he forced his mind back to the battle at hand, and stared at Momo, who looked at him with disturbingly blank eyes as she called him by his childhood nickname.

"Shirou-chan. Why – are you attacking – Aizen-Taichou?" Momo said in her halting manner of speech.

Toushirou roared, "I should be asking you the same thing! Why are you protecting him? He threw you away like a rag doll! _He drove you insane!_"

Though Momo flinched, she didn't relent one bit. Instead, she threw his sword off and launched the next attack.

For an instant, Toushirou thought back to the time when Momo had believed that he was the one who had murdered Aizen. When she had held her sword at his neck. At the memory, he hesitated. That single moment was the only opening Momo needed to strike.

Blocking her attack with an ice wing, Toushirouo growled, "Move aside!"

Her stance firm, Momo said, "No. Not even for you, Shirou-chan. Not if you're going to attack Aizen-Taichou." Her words had grown firmer, smoother.

Though his eyes widened in fury, Toushirou still couldn't attack his childhood friend – once the person he had loved.

Instead, he sent a particularly strong blast of wind, which made Momo falter. But after that brief moment, she stood her ground again. Toushirou caught a glimpse of an uncharacteristically hardened face expression before she lowered her head.

Then, she too went through a transformation. She bared her teeth, revealing pointy eyeteeth; her sclera turned black; her irises turned bright yellow.

All the while, Aizen watched with a smugness that made Karin's blood boil. He was _enjoying_ this. Pitting two childhood friends, maybe more, against each other. Contrary to what she would have thought before, she didn't feel betrayed by Toushirou. That girl was in his past; he'd either buried her or would have told Karin about it eventually. What angered Karin was that Aizen watched on the sidelines like he was watching a show. As if all he needed were popcorn and a comfy seat.

Did Aizen have even one scrap of humanity in him? He must have, when even arrancar did.

How had he become so monstrous? What was his motive? He couldn't have started out this evil, this manipulative.

All these questions were running through her mind, but she shoved them aside; she had neither the leisure, nor the patience to carefully examine the complexity of Aizen's psyche.

No.

Not with Kyo dead.

Unsteadily, Karin stood up, casting one last look down at Kyo's lifeless body.

Her eyes shadowed, she turned to face Aizen, who was still observing the battle between Toushirou and Momo.

Radiating fury, Karin flexed her hands.

Then she began to glow.

All at once, Kyo's powers – _her_ powers – that she had believed disappeared when he had died, wired back into her body, reentering her soul. At that moment, she felt Kyo's spiritual pressure merge with hers. They reinforced each other, becoming whole once more. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Koutetsu took a deep breath for the first time in ages.

Karin opened her eyes. Was this what Kyo had meant when he said he would be with her even after he'd died? That his powers would return to her, their rightful owner?

She felt empowered. Like Kyo was right over her shoulder, watching her.

By the time Aizen realized that the hair-raisingly immense spiritual pressure belonged to Karin, she had already summoned her swords.

But they were no longer the crimson swords they had been before. They were longer, lighter, and so red they appeared black. But most of all, they gave off a searing heat. Though Karin felt the heat, her hands did not burn. On the contrary, her body was heating up; even the normally heat-resistant marble cracked under the feet.

Her hair floating eerily independent from Toushirou's wind, Karin said, "You have nothing… nobody to hide behind anymore, Aizen."

Aizen recovered quickly.

"So it seems. Very well then. I shall face you myself, and you can experience first hand just how wide the gap between our powers is. You will regret ever opposing me."

Karin pointed a sword at him and replied, "We'll see about that."

In the next moment, she was behind him. But she turned, because he was no longer there. To anybody else, his voice would sound from everywhere, much like the creepy kid's had. But for Karin, it came from only a single place.

So it shocked him when she pinpointed him directly and was pointing her swords at him once more.

Aizen swerved away from the sword just in time to escape its blade.

But not the heat.

The heat tore through his white hakama, and his skin sizzled, and his eyes widened with confusion before immediately narrowing again. He skidded back, with a horizontal tear across the chest area of his hakama.

"…How…"

"Your hypnosis won't work on me, Aizen." Karin said. "When I merged with Kyo again, my hypnosis 'counter' was reset. You need to perform a ritual in order for your hypnosis to work, right?"

She didn't know how she knew this; it just flowed from her mouth. Was Koutetsu speaking through her?

Then she merged the finally whole Koutetsu into one, and an ornate blade appeared.

Aizen started laughing.

"I admit you've pulled one over on me." He finally unsheathed his sword. "But do you think that you, a mere infant in the ways of the sword, can defeat me, who has centuries of experience?" He disappeared before Karin had the chance to answer. She felt his cold blade against her neck. "You should have taken my hand while you could, Kurosaki Karin."

To his surprise, she smirked.

"Do you really think your sword can cut me now?"

Aizen froze. Firmly, Karin pushed his blade away with her hand and calmly stepped away.

"You can't cut me. You really shouldn't have made Kyo as powerful as he was." She stopped to think. "Oh, would I have to thank Titiritero for that?" Her eyes swiveled over to Aizen once more. "But now I have double, no… triple the power I did before. You've heard of the expression, 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,' right?"

She raised her new blade once more, tendrils of smoke now curling up from its surface.

"You're not walking away from this fight alive."

…

After he had released his bankai, it had only been a matter of time before Ichigo had defeated the mossy-haired man.

'_Mossy-man's skills must've been rusty.' _Well, he probably didn't get much fighting practice in this dimension. "When I get my hands on that pathetic excuse of a father…" Ichigo flexed his fingers. But as he ran, he wondered what exactly his father could have done that was so bad, that Senshyuu hated him so much.

Ichigo skidded to a stop as he saw somebody who looked like a female version of Byakuya in the room ahead. She turned to face him, and he saw she looked older than Byakuya; her face was slightly lined.

But she had the same level gaze and austerity as Byakuya.

Ichigo struggled to find a diplomatic way to phrase his question. "Um, pardon… but do you happen to be a Kuchiki…?" Fail. Ichigo grimaced inwardly at how that came out.

She pretended not to notice his blunder.

"I see that my clan's name precedes me. Tell me, are you acquainted with my nephew, Byakuya?"

"Yeah." Though Ichigo knew that she hadn't introduced herself, he asked, "What did you say your name was again?"

"I did not say my name, but my name is Kuchiki Seishou." And she, like Byakuya, also lacked a sense of humor. "Now would be a good time to introduce yourself, though I have a good idea of who you might be."

Wary of revealing his last name after the disastrous consequences the last time, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

Breathing in through her nose, "You are a Kurosaki, are you not?"

As he stiffened, she sighed, "Judging from your wary reaction, I see you've already met Shakuin Senshyuu." As Ichigo moved to unwrap his sword, Seishou said, "Save your strength, Nameless One. I am indebted to your father."

Thoroughly confused, Ichigo lowered his hand from the hilt of his sword. One considered his Oyaji a traitor, and another was saying that she owed him?

"…Indebted?"

"Yes. Now will you introduce yourself? I have yet to know your given name." This time, Ichigo could detect a trace of impatience in Seishou's voice.

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo finally said. "How are you indebted to my father? It can't be the same reason he's considered a traitor, can it?"

Seishou gave him an appraising look. "You are very sharp, Kurosaki Ichigo. Yes, it does, but I will explain it as we run."

…

Meanwhile, Toushirou still struggled with Momo. Seeing Karin start to fight against Aizen, he shouted, "Karin!"

Angered, he tried to maneuver around Momo, but whichever direction he moved in, Momo was there. Had she been this fast when she was alive? She wasn't even using a sword, but he found himself driven back. At this rate, he'd have to use…

"I'm telling you to move, Momo!" Toushirou roared again.

She resolutely shook her head, her yellow eyes narrowed. "You'll try to kill Aizen-Taichou."

Finally, his patience snapped. Even if it wore the shell of his childhood friend, the shards of the Hougyoku now reigned in the control panel.

Vienta finally arrived at the chamber. She didn't even need to hide her spiritual pressure. Immediately, she zoned in on Momo and lunged. Before Momo had time to react, Vienta sliced through her from behind.

Though Toushirou had prepared himself to kill Momo anyways, his heart lurched when he saw Vienta slash her deeply from behind.

No longer able to support herself with spiritual particles, Momo fell out of the air. As her transformation faded away, she reached out with an arm.

"Shi…rou…cha…n…"

Toushirou had to make a split-second decision. He looked from Momo to Karin. Then he looked back at Momo.

'_I'm sorry, Karin… Wait for me!'_

Swooping down with his wings of ice, Toushirou caught the bleeding Momo, cradling her in his arms.

Vienta landed some distance away, watching passively, knowing that Momo was dying.

With the fatal blow, Momo's mind seemed to finally have returned.

"Shirou-chan…" she breathed.

Her name was stuck in his throat; he couldn't answer.

She smiled at him. _'That dumb smile again.'_ With that smile, he realized with a jolt that her sanity had returned.

He laughed croakily. "I haven't seen you smile that dumb smile for ages, Hinamori."

Momo attempted to laugh, but coughed out blood instead; she was in too much pain. "Shirou… I mean, Hitsugaya-kun." She looked earnestly, if not weakly, up into his eyes. "You've… grown taller."

"And you haven't grown at all. You're no closer to catching up with Matsumoto than three years ago." Toushirou tried to banter back. After all, she didn't have much time left.

Though Momo tried protest, she broke out into a coughing fit. "…I'm sorry, Shirou-chan."

Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"For what, stupid?"

"For burdening you with my…" she struggled with the next word, but squeezing her eyes shut she was able to make it out of her throat. "My suicide. I realize… now how much it had pained you." When she saw Toushirou try to talk, she shook her head and continued, "And… for everything else… I did… to hurt you."

With enormous effort, she raised a hand to touch his cheek.

"Good…bye… Shirou-ch… I mean… Hitsugaya…ku…"

Her hand dropped.

She was dead.

Toushirou's heart dropped like a stone, as he stared down at the girl he had once cherished. Her soul disintegrated from his arms, leaving a few broken shards of glass in his hands. Toushirou swallowed, tears of ice falling from his eyes.

"Stupid… I told you… it's Hitsugaya-Taichou…"

He bowed his head, and his hands enclosed around the remains of the Hougyoku.

After Momo's death, Vienta too, started to fade.

"I have completed my mission. It's time for me to go as well." She closed her eyes and spread her arms, seemingly embracing the nothingness. Then she slowly turned to wood, which then dissipated into dust.

Toushirou gazed at the area Vienta had vanished.

Suddenly, pain struck him like lightning, and he doubled over as he felt the burning in his chest.

'_Shit… I can't retain this form for much longer…'_ He looked towards Aizen. _'I've got to go help Karin fast.'_

But to his surprise, Karin was holding her own.

He noticed that her weapon had undergone a transformation as well. It's guard looked larger, the sword looked darker and her sword sizzled as it contacted Aizen's sword. He looked over at Kyo's prone body and he realized what must have happened. Kyo had died and his share of powers that he had been fostering had returned twofold to Karin.

Toushirou clenched the remains of the Hougyoku before stashing them into his hakama and attacking Aizen as well.

Karin spotted him as he did. "Toushirou!" she cried out, surprised.

Her surprise was all it took for Aizen to knock her away. Too late to regain her footing, Karin slammed into rubble of marble, and slumped to the floor. Blood trickled down from her forehead; she didn't move.

Aizen straightened, and examined his body.

"To think she could injure me like this… It seems that I underestimated her."

"Aizen!" Toushirou yelled out, furious. "Is that all you can say? Hinamori is dead! Kyo is dead! Karin – ! Karin…"

"Oh, I don't think she'd die from a weak blow like that. Maybe I should go finish the job."

Toushirou radiated fury, and his body gave out a blue glow. _'This is it.'_ Hyourinmaru didn't answer, but he could picture him closing his eyes in resignation.

"Saigo no Tensou Juurin!" (The Final Subjugation of the Heavens)

Toushirou raised his sword and cried out, "Hakuten no Ryu!" (Dragon of Pure Skies) and he swung down his sword towards Aizen.

There was a blast, and all was quiet.

…

The Spirit King looked on, intrigued by the turn of events. He absently balanced a scale of souls, but paid no attention to it, too busy looking at the battle. A soul screamed as it fell off the scale, and into Hell. The King ignored this.

"Oh? Isn't that technique of a similar caliber as the one that shinigami used to seal me with?"

He searched around seemingly nowhere, until he found what seemed like nothing. But he _had_ found something, something only his eyes could see.

"Aha. I remember you, Kurosaki Isshin."

The Spirit King suddenly showed his face, and though it was round like a child's, the expression was nothing like what a normal child would wear.

It was full of bloodlust.

"Yes. I have a score to settle with you, Kurosaki Isshin."

…

Aizen lay debilitated on the floor.

Slowly, Toushirou walked over to him, with only a single question on his mind. When he stood over Aizen, he asked, "Why?"

Coughing out blood, Aizen asked, "Why…. What?" He hacked out a few more coughs. "Why did I betray Soul Society? Why… did I attempt to become Spirit King?" Even on the verge of death, a corner of his mouth tugged up, as if he knew something Toushirou didn't.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He wiped the blood from his mouth and examined it with disgust. "But I think once you hear – if you believe me, that is – you'll regret ever wanting to know."

Though Aizen looked as sly as usual, Toushirou could somehow sense the truth behind his words. He opened his mouth to ask what Aizen meant, but abruptly, his ice wings and sword shattered.

Aizen looked at him, appearing vaguely amused. "Looks like your time's up as well. Hitsugaya-'Taichou.'"

Next to go was Toushirou ice armor covering his right arm and half of face. Last of all was Toushirou's long hair.

Toushirou lowered his eyelids as he stared down at Aizen.

"You're going to die, Aizen."

Smirking, Aizen breathed out, "So it seems." Rolling an eye over to Toushirou, he asked, "So do you… really want to know the truth about the Spirit King? Why the sun here is fake? Why… everything is made of marble? Why this place… isn't teeming with people?"

At Toushirou's face, Aizen made out a chuckle.

"Why… the look of surprise? There's supposed… to be a royal family… and quite numerous… too. And the royal servants. But no one… is here except… for the Royal Guard and their pawns." His breathing was ragged and irregular now.

Toushirou kept quiet.

"Well, even if you don't… want to know… Humor me by listening."

Toushirou was tempted to slice Aizen's throat then and there to prevent him from getting anything he wanted, but he realized he no longer had a zanpakutou.

So he scowled but listened.

…...

"Karin! Karin, are you okay?"

Karin opened her eyes, and she saw the hazy figure of Toushirou before her. It seemed like his previous appearance had been restored; his hair was short again. She blinked, and her vision became clearer. With Toushirou were the others. Yuzu, Ichigo, her father, an injured Ikkaku, Rangiku, Tatsuki; all the other shinigami, and arrancar. Only a scant few remained unscathed. There was the Kuchuki Seishou woman as well, as well as a few others she didn't know.

"…Thank god… You're all still alive." She almost didn't recognize her own voice.

Slowly casting a glance around, she spied Aizen's figure. Toushirou, seeing the direction of her gaze, quietly said, "The battle with Aizen is over."

To her surprise, she didn't feel any triumph. Only emptiness. She looked over to Kyo's body. Despite the protests of the people around her, she shakily stood and stumbled over to him.  
Yuzu was sniffling. If not for his deathly pale face, he could be asleep. Kneeling beside him, Karin took his cold hand and murmured, "Thank you. Kyo. The other half of my soul."

Toushirou was at a loss for words. He simply put a hand on Karin's shoulder, offering what comfort he could. But suddenly, Toushirou staggered. He grit his teeth as the pain gripped his very soul. He fell to one knee.

Karin stared at him, alarmed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"Toushirou! What's wrong?"

But he couldn't answer. All he could do was let out a strangled yell. He collapsed into her arms, and Karin gathered his body to hers. She asked urgently, "What's wrong with him?" She twisted her head to look around at the shinigami. "Is he hurt?" When only sad eyes looked at her, she fought the wave of panic that threatened to overcome her. "Say something!"

Isshin looked grim, as everybody watched Toushirou's yells elevate into screams of agony. His screams only stopped when he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Seishou stepped forward. "He has gone into the first stage of loss."

Bewildered, Karin asked, "First stage of… What does that mean? Loss of what?"

Unexpectedly, Isshin answered for her, "Loss of shinigami powers."

Karin froze.

"Loss of…"

Closing his eyes, Isshin turned away. "That's right. He'll lose all his spiritual power. All his reiatsu."

Instinctively, Karin clutched Toushirou even closer to herself, frightened by the very idea that it was possible.

"…How do you know…?"

Isshin didn't have time to answer, as a swirling light surrounded Karin, transporting her and Toushirou, whom she held onto, to another chamber.

When Karin opened her eyes, a familiar figure lounged before her, with a peculiar scale in front of him.

"…You!"

He was no longer transparent, and his now visible face made him look like a pale, moon-faced child.

The child was bedecked in his unmistakable imperial robes. If Karin hadn't been holding Toushirou, she would have run up to the kid and grabbed his collar, shaking him to an inch within his life for sending her and Kyo to that room.

Calmly, the kid said, "Yes. Me. Though I would prefer you call me 'Your Highness.'"

Karin's eyes widened.

"You mean you're the Spirit King?" she said incredulously.

Tilting the scale just a little bit, he replied, "Isn't it obvious just by my clothes?" He swiveled an eye towards her, looking annoyed. "What, you want me to wear a crown on my head and dance holding a sign saying 'I'm the Spirit King' for everyone to see?"

In any other situation, Karin would have found the expression funny, but as of now, she had nothing to say in reply to that. Instead, she asked, "Why did you bring me back here? We… Toushirou… defeated your enemy." She glanced down sadly at Toushirou's head in her lap. _'At a high cost…'_ Toushirou had lost his shinigami powers as a result. She glared back up at the King. "Aren't you satisfied?"

Looking back at the scale, he said lazily, "Nope. I have a vendetta against your father, you see."

Karin frowned. "Against… Old Beardy?"

The King snorted at the name. "That's an interesting nickname for him. Is that supposed to be a term of endearment or something?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "He took something from me, so I plan on taking something from him. And then kill him slowly and painfully."

There was a faint screaming noise from the scale. Karin glanced from the King to the scale, unsettled, both by the scream and the threat he had made to her father.

"Whoops." The King remarked.

Uneasily, Karin asked, "What was that noise just now…?"

The King nonchalantly said, "Just a soul falling into Hell. Except this soul didn't do anything to deserve it. I meant to shove another soul down." He tapped the scale again, and another small scream was heard. "I really should take out the other soul that fell in by mistake. But I'm too lazy. It happens all the time, so I just don't bother any more."

Karin's eyes widened with horror.

"You… toy with people's souls like that?" Her horror quickly turned to anger. "Are we no more than trash to you? Why don't you wait for shinigami to come and perform a soul burial?"

The King shrugged. "There are areas where shinigami aren't posted. And you guys aren't trash. Just another boring chore for me, the King, to complete. Except there's no end to you humans. You're like cockroaches."

Out of nowhere, he pulled out an abacus and he flicked a bead, and yet another, but more agonizing, scream echoed.

"You know, I only keep the Royal Guard around just to lessen my work for me."

When Karin looked taken aback at this admission, the Spirit King complained, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to multitask hundreds, no, _thousands_ of things at the same time? And I don't even get any appreciation for all the things that I do."

He sourly flicked another bead on the abacus, and this time a ghostly image came out of it, and rose up into the air before disappearing.

"It sometimes makes me regret eating my maste – " he abruptly stopped, as if he had said something he shouldn't have.

After a long pause, the King continued to speak, his voice light and airy as usual, but his face extremely dangerous. Karin suddenly wished that his face had remained transparent.

"Sorry. You've just heard something nobody's supposed to know."

And he raised a hand to leisurely cover his face.

Sensing the danger, Karin flash-stepped away and carefully placed Toushirou on the floor.

When the King lowered his hand, his face was neither transparent nor of a child's.

It was a terrifying mask even more grotesque than a hollow's, and Karin looked on in horror as he stood, no longer looking like a child. In fact, he looked like a giant all of a sudden. He opened his mouth and revealed that it was pitch black, not unlike a garganta.

When he spoke, his voice was also no longer childlike but demonic.

"You'll have to die now."

…

…

A/N: Ahem. That's it for this chapter folks. Tune in next time! I think there will be about two to three more chapters. (finally an estimate!)


	37. The Spirit King II

**Chapter 37: The Spirit King II**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: Not much is left of this story… FuHahAhaHa...  
Sorry, but this story has driven me to the brink of insanity… long flashback(s) in this one. It's necessary for the rather… big… explanations… coming up…  
And Holy Schnevesizers. The word count… D: Oh the horror. *keels over*

…

**Chapter 37**

The Spirit King II

…

When Karin disappeared, the room broke out into pandemonium.

"What was that light?"  
"Where did she go?"  
"What happened?"  
"She just disappeared! Along with Taichou!"  
" – what's going on? Why were they taken?"  
" – is there another enemy?"  
" – can't be…"

"_What the hell just happened?"_ This was Ichigo.

Hikifune Kirio grimly elucidated, "That was the Spirit King. No doubt about it."

That caused even more uproar.

"Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?"  
"They just saved his life!"  
"…He's just going to reward them, right?" Tatsuki said nervously. "After all, they did him a great service…"  
"Luck-ky~" Ikkaku forced out, even though he had a feeling that it couldn't be farther from the truth.

All the while, Urahara and Yoruichi remained silent. The situation was grave indeed.

Isshin closed his eyes in horror. _It_ had taken his daughter. Was it trying to get revenge?

**Flashback**

_Isshin's brush briefly paused as his keen ears detected hurried footsteps from a fair distance away. Then, he looked back down at his paperwork and cursed; the ink had spread. His calligraphy hadn't been that great to begin with, but now the ink stain had rendered his handwriting positively illegible._

_He resolved to ignore the hurried footsteps. So he redid the paper, tongue between his teeth in concentration. The footsteps pounded ever closer to his office, and Isshin's brush jerked as he recognized the reiatsu belonging to the person who was in such a tearing hurry. His eyes bulged when he realized that he had once again ruined his paperwork._

_However, as he was determined to finish his paperwork so he could go out with his drinking buddy, Kyouraku Shunsui, Isshin grit his teeth and started anew, with a hand trembling with the effort not to spoil his handwriting this time. Unlike Shunsui, he wasn't so negligent in his duties as a captain to push all his work onto his lieutenant. No matter how tempting it sounded._

_He had almost finished when there was a slamming sound as the sliding door yanked open and a harsh panting sounded._

_This time, Isshin stiffened his hand just in time in order to prevent his hand from going astray again. He continued to focus on the more tedious portion of his job, and finally finished the accursed paper. Privately heaving a sigh of relief, Isshin flicked yet another piece of paper over, dipping his brush into the ink once more to write another status report. Taking a leaf from Shunsui's book started to seem more and more alluring._

"_Isshin-san… I mean, Kurosaki-Taichou."_

_Yet his visitor demanded his attention._

_Isshin didn't look up as he said irritably, "To what do I owe the honor of one of the Onmitsu Kidou Unit Commanders coming out of his shell to find me directly? If I recall correctly, it's been over half a year since you came to even greet me."_

"…_Isshin-san, please."_

_At the pleading tone of the voice addressing him, Isshin finally looked up, putting his brush down, unaware that he had placed it upon the paper he had just painstakingly finished. The man before him was drenched in cold sweat, and had an uncharacteristically frantic look in his eyes._

_Isshin crossed his arms, surprised, and even voicing it. "…What's with you, Urahara? This is the first time I've seen you so agitated." He forced a grin. "Was Yoruichi flirting with Tessai again? You know she does that just to tease you because your reactions are hilarious, though even I found it kind of convincing when she first tried it…"_

_His feeble attempt at humor went ignored. By this time, Urahara was so agitated that he was babbling. Something was definitely wrong. Urahara was always composed, if not lackadaisical._

"_Discovered… The Spirit King… Eaten long ago… I tried to harness – "_

_Isshin held up his hands. "Whoa wait, wait." He craned his neck and scrunched up his face in an exaggerated show of listening closely, sure that he had misheard. Come on. Harness? _Harness?_ In the same sentence as the other words? That _had_ to be a hearing problem. He would have to drop by the Fourth Division to have Retsu check that, as soon as he finished his regrettably large amount of paperwork._

_Isshin wanted to hear Urahara's issue again, _properly_ this time._ "Come. Again?"

_Urahara punctuated his words, so Isshin couldn't claim to have missed it once again. "The Spirit King. Was eaten. Long. Ago."_

_The implications of the sentence were so disturbing that Isshin couldn't even bother to be offended by Urahara's manner of speech, which had slowed down considerably, as if talking to a mentally stunted child._

_But that the Spirit King had been devoured long ago was by no means new information to Isshin. He'd heard it, in confidence, long ago from the late head of the Shiba clan, and that was the reason that he had rejected the promotion offered to him some time ago. Of course, Commander Yamamoto had been displeased, but that disgruntled manner towards Isshin had only lasted a few decades._

_No. He didn't feel disturbed by something he already knew. What he _did_ find disturbing was that Urahara had found out in itself, as well as what he thought would have accompanied the latter content of Urahara's broken sentence. The part about the _harnessing_. Still wanting to believe that he had heard wrong, Isshin rapidfired questions at Urahara. "When did you find out? And how? _And just what were you going to say **after **that? _Was it really the word 'harness' that you used?_"

"_Nevermind how I found out now, but I've accidentally – "_

_The door flung open once again, interrupting their conversation. Both of the men turned as a woman dashed in, her face ashen. It was Isshin's lieutenant._

"_Taichou! Come outside quickly, please!"_

_Isshin was stunned; his lieutenant always remained imperturbable. It must be an extreme emergency if she was this upset._

_He turned back towards Urahara and shouted, "We'll resume this conversation when I'm back! _Exactly_ where we left off! Got it?"_

_He didn't notice Urahara's stricken face._

_Neither did he notice that his brush lay on the paper, bleeding black ink all over the place, seeming to forebode ill._

_As Isshin ran down the hallway, all the lanterns suddenly extinguished. Isshin paused. That was extremely odd. Feeling that something was very, very wrong, Isshin started running again, even faster this time. Though his lieutenant stumbled, Isshin had no trouble navigating through the dark. But even though Isshin supposedly had his superior spiritual detection to help him detect reishi (spiritual particles) he didn't realize that he was outside until he felt the dirt underneath his bare feet._

_He frowned at the darkness. What was going on? It was still supposed to be early evening. There were some hours left until sunset, let alone such pitch darkness. And even in the darkness, there was supposed to be a moon. But there was none._

"_It's starting."_

_Jumping nearly out of his skin when Urahara's voice came from behind him, Isshin thought that his spiritual detection skills must be going haywire; first he couldn't tell that he had even arrived outside, next he couldn't detect Urahara?_

_But then he saw an eerie light in the sky._

_Isshin's eyes widened in horror as he saw a huge mask looking down at the whole of Soul Society._

_It thundered, __**"Who tried to subjugate me? Who dared to try and harness me? Me, The Spirit King?"**_

_It opened its enormous mouth and started to suck in hapless souls who didn't have enough spiritual power to resist. Screams sounded everywhere, and even weaker shinigami directly under the mask's mouth were vacuumed in._

_Aghast, Isshin turned to Urahara. "You… you tried to harness the Spirit King?"_

_Urahara looked miserable, and that was answer enough._

_Isshin closed his eyes, hoping that anybody,_ anything_ would swoop in and pacify the King and send him back to his own dimension. Anything but forcing Isshin to use his last resort._

_But when nothing happened, Isshin knew he had no choice but to use _that_ technique. He had gone to great lengths to master it after he had discovered the truth about the 'Spirit King.' Just in case a scenario like the one currently happening occurred._

_Opening his eyes, Isshin asked Urahara, "You were always a genius at Kidou. Is there anything that can… seal the King?"_

_Urahara looked at him bleakly. "Only if the King's attention is bound long enough."_

_Isshin clenched his fists, aware that every second he wasted was more souls sacrificed._

_Finally firming his resolve, Isshin drew out Engetsu. He looked down at his blade and silently apologized._

'_Sorry buddy. Goodbye.'_

**Flashback End**

Kuchiki Seishou stepped forward and carefully placed a hand on Isshin's arm.

"Kurosaki-san. I shall lead you to where the King resides."

Isshin shook his head. "If it's still in its sealed form, it would be a fool to stay in the same place."

The mossy-haired man, Shakuin Senchyuu began to laugh maniacally. "Serves you right, Kurosaki Isshin! That's what you get for opposing the Spirit King!"

Swiftly, Seishou turned and pointed her sword at him. "Do you wish to lose that tongue of yours? If so, I would be more than willing to oblige." Though her voice sounded even, her face was anything but calm.

Kirio said wearily, "Seishou-san. It's pointless to get angry with Shakuin. It won't solve anything."

Sword quivering slightly, Seishou said tightly, "It would make _me_ feel better, if that means anything." Though the Kuchiki blood running in her veins demanded her to uphold the laws, there was only so much she could take.

"Don't, Seishou-san. Shakuin is right." Isshin said quietly.

Finally, Ichigo snapped. He did the unthinkable to his father. Grabbing Isshin by his shihakusho's collar, he said furiously, "You bastard! If you hadn't helped seal the so-called 'King,' then Karin wouldn't have been taken!"

Isshin closed his eyes. In the normal way of things, he would have punched the lights out of his son, but at the present, he could muster neither the strength nor the will.

In a flash, Seishou had sheathed her zanpakutou and taken Ichigo's arm in a firm grip.

"I believe I told you that he had no choice."

Kirio turned to her successor and said, "And _I_ believe the true cause lies somewhere else."

Urahara looked away.

Loosening his hold on his father, Ichigo hung his head, hating himself for being so helpless. He was being unreasonable, he knew, taking it out on his father. The true source of his anger was his inability to protect his loved ones.

He turned to the three Royal Guards present. "Where are the other Royal Guards?"

After a moment, Kirio answered, "They're far away, each engaged in battle."

"…and the Spirit King?"

Both of the female guards shook their heads.

Isshin spoke to Urahara. "I know it wants revenge against me. But tell me… is it possible to break the seal?"

There was a long silence, as if Urahara dreaded what he was going to say. Everybody awaited Urahara's answer with baited breath, hoping that his answer would be 'no.'

But out of his mouth came, "Yes. It is possible."

Murphy's law said the rest.

…

"Sorry. You've just heard something nobody's supposed to know." The 'King' lowered his hand from his face, revealing a demonic mask infinitely more grotesque than a hollow's.

Eyes of white flame flickered from behind the mask.

"You'll have to die now."

He stood up, and Karin simultaneously backed away. He raised a hand, which now dripped black fire, and examined it idly.

"Hm. Not as good as my old form, but that'll be remedied shortly. I'll soon reach my quota." Turning back towards Karin, he informed her, "But you won't be the one to help me reach my quota."

Karin asked with the barest tremor in her voice. "Quota…?"

Sitting back down, the 'King' said, "Well, I suppose I have plenty of time to enlighten you, and it won't matter, because you'll die soon." He grinned, sending shivers down Karin's spine. "And a villain – in this case, that would be me – always tells his victim – in this case, you – the reasoning behind his killing."

Even as she teetered on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, Karin still had enough scraps of her sanity to know that it wasn't a very good time to point out that those types of villains always got defeated in the end.

The King arranged himself into a comfortable position on the cushioned throne, shrinking himself a little bit to make it possible.

"And to 'quota,' I mean quota of soul energy. To release the seal. But in order to have you fulfill my quota, I'd have to consume you instead of kill you." The mask broke out into an eerie smile. "But I think your father would feel a lot more pained if he saw your cold, bloodied body, don't you think?"

'_Okay. An insane sadist mask of a fake king is about to kill me. That would be a perfect way to end my day. And my life.'_ Karin managed a sarcastic thought with a mind dancing dangerously close to hysteria. She also managed to ask, "Soul energy? Seal?" though it sounded rather more like, "SHoul herery? Sheal?"

The mask seemed to understand her garbled question nonetheless, as he waved a hand of black flame and clarified, "I eat – that is, imprison – souls in order to suck out their soul energies." Looking at his nonexistent nails, he continued, "And I discovered that when I do this, the seal weakens. Soon enough, I'll return to my original form."

More coherently, Karin asked, "What seal?"

The King narrowed his eyes.

**Flashback**

_The current Spirit King carried out his usual mind-numbingly boring duties, regretting having consumed his master, per usual. How had his predecessor managed to do all this? It seemed that he had underestimated the former Spirit King._

_After being disillusioned from the title of 'King,' he had tried to release the former Spirit King from imprisonment. He failed; either his owner was refusing to come out, or he had buried his owner beyond the point of return._

_Though he knew it was the latter, he often entertained the idea that it might be the former; even __**she**__ had probably disliked the job, what with all the work. All he knew was that his master certainly wasn't dead, for he himself still remained._

_He sighed and temporarily abandoned his physical form, becoming mist. Traveling out of the cold marble palace out into the depressingly fake outdoors in this formless state, he reflected on the situation for the past several centuries_

_After he had devoured his master, not only had the dimension transformed into one of barren darkness, but he had also felt empty. To get rid of the darkness, he had fashioned a false sun. To get rid of the barrenness, he had fashioned a marble landscape._

_But the void within him refused to go away._

_So in order to fill that void, he had eaten all of his master's family. But the feeling of emptiness just wouldn't go away. Was this what a hollow felt like?_

_Though he had considered eating all of the current Royal Guard as well, he knew it would be pointless. It wouldn't fill his emptiness, and would just increase his workload with fewer minions to carry out his jobs. Besides, they didn't even know his true identity. He had made sure to devour all of the Royal Guard who did._

_Except the one who had managed to get away and return to Soul Society._

_One from the Shiba clan._

_That cursed Shiba had gone and shown his face among the shinigami in Soul Society again, so he couldn't even go eat the man and claim that he had died of natural causes, like he had for the other Royal Guards._

_So the Spirit King had then taken precautions to make sure the Shibas' word wouldn't be trusted. And so they fell from nobility, under the pretense that they had betrayed the Spirit King by returning to Soul Society without the Spirit King's permission. The Commander of the Gotei 13 hadn't even noticed the switch in kings, the old fool._

_He was jolted out of his reverie by a jarring sensation. He was abruptly forced back to his physical form, and he landed in a heap painfully on the marble. Trembling, he stood up on the marble._

_Someone was probing him. Testing him. Seeing if he was controllable._

_After the shock subsided, he flew into a terrible rage. His only master was the previous Spirit King. No one. _No one_ else would control him._

_Forcefully transforming into his full form of an enormous white mask and a cloud of darkness, he swooped back to the palace._

_All of his Royal Guard had been horrified when they saw him; they had never known of the 'Spirit King's' real form. They tried in vain to pacify him, restrain him. But nothing worked. He wreaked havoc in his palace before he tore through the dimension into Soul Society, demanding to know who had tried to tame – no, _enslave_ – him._

_And before the Spirit King stood a mere shinigami, daring to challenge him. Him. The Spirit King._

_The King roared at the mere soul, __**"Was it you? Were you the one who tried to subjugate me?"**_

_The man met his eyes, and the King saw that they held no fear. They were only filled with determination. Without a single word, the man released his zanpakutou. Not twice, but three times._

_The King's eyes of flame flared when he saw this triple release. By the third release, the shinigami's appearance had changed drastically. A shell now covered the shinigami's body and he had become one with his zanpakutou._

_The King recognized this technique… and even in his current form of white and black flame, he didn't stand a chance._

_There was only one thing that _could_ defeat it, but it required that he fight alongside his master. Unfortunately, he had eaten her. And he had never taught it to her in the first place; in fact, she hadn't even known of its existence. Even if she had, he would never have allowed her to utilize it._

_The King returned his focus to the shinigami. The man only had a single opportunity to take him down. Then the soul would lose all his shinigami powers._

_Perhaps the blow would be avoidable; but that was unlikely._

_The King knew that his only hope was to devour the man before he could even use the technique. He opened his jaws wide to suck in the shinigami, but it was too late._

**"Final Getsuga Tenshou. Mugetsu."**

_The black light flashed through the King, slicing his mask cleanly in two, revealing the white flames behind it. Though the pain of his broken mask was excruciating, he felt another, more subtle sensation creep through him. But the feeling grew stronger and shuddered through him, _compressing_ him into an actual spiritual form._

_The King screamed, "What have you done to me?"_

_As the shell fell from the man, he said, "You're being sealed, 'Your Majesty.'"_

_Though the King was furious, his voice was now much smaller than before, keeping in proportion with his body. __**"Who are you to even think of challenging me?" **__He twisted and thrashed against the seal, which tightened with every movement of resistance._

"_I am Kurosaki Isshin."_

"_**With whose help did you dare to seal me?"**__ The mask hissed, growing smaller and smaller, steam rising from his mouth._

_Though the mask thought he saw the briefest moment of hesitation, the man called Isshin declared, "I had no help. I did this of my own volition by myself. You were taking too many lives. That's unforgivable, even if it's the Spirit King."_

_Writhing, the King was forced into a child's body, and forced to return to his own dimension._

_The King had never been so humiliated. He'd then put a large bounty on Kurosaki Isshin's head, effectively ensuring that the man wouldn't be able to return, until he had sufficiently restored his powers, so he actually carry out his sworn revenge. By the time the King was through, he'd have Kurosaki Isshin begging forgiveness at his feet._

**Flashback End**

The story unfolded before Karin. So her father had helped seal this demon of a king. _'You did the right thing, Beardy. No… Dad.'_

Presently, the King was pondering, "Now, should I break the seal once and for all by consuming that boy and _then _finish off your father, or should I bring your father here to make _him_ be the final one to help break my seal?" He stroked his mask's chin with a fiery black hand. "I think I shall go with the second choice. He sealed me. It is quite fitting that he be the final soul to break my seal."

Then the King seemed to change his mind again. "No. I said I'd kill him slowly and painfully. Looks like I'll have to devour that boy first." Rising from his throne, the mask turned towards Toushirou, who lay on the floor, unconscious and unaware of what was going on.

Panic shot through Karin. Toushirou had already lost his spiritual power. She couldn't allow him to be eaten as well.

Karin briefly closed her eyes, and though she wasn't sure she believed in God, she sent up a prayer to any listening deity.

She then materialized Koutetsu, knowing that it would be futile even before blade had even completely formed. Leveling her sword towards the 'king,' Karin snarled with more bravado than she felt, "So exactly what are you?"

The mask let out a roar of laughter.

"**I told you. **_**I am the Spirit King.**_**"**

Slowly, Karin shook her head.

"No, you're not."

The glowing slits that were the mask's eyes narrowed. **"And your proof for this claim is…?"**

"You said you had 'consumed your master,' right?"

The creature neither confirmed nor denied this. Just stared at her, his eyes of flame flickering.

"That means you belonged to the Spirit King."

The masked creature of black flame twitched at this. As she continued on, it tightened its stance as if he were a tightly coiled spring ready to unleash at any time. "You're not just a simple soul. You were the Spirit King's – "

He pounced and her vision turned black.

…

After Urahara's shocking admittance, there was a tacit agreement that everybody give a wide berth to the elephant in the room. Instead, they talked quietly amongst themselves.

Kuchiki Seishou spoke to Rukia. "I believe this is the first time we've met. You probably haven't heard of me from my nephew, but the law recognizes me as your aunt." After a moment of thought, she added, "That is, if my father didn't remove me from the family tree. Did he?"

Rukia replied quietly, "He passed away before Onii-sama granted me the Kuchiki name, but I heard that his last wish was that you be restored to the family tree."

For a moment, Rukia thought she saw a glimmer of tears. But when Seishou turned to Rukia, her gray eyes were clear. "Thank you, Rukia."

Embarrassed, Rukia looked away.  
.

Exhausted, Renji leaned against a relatively whole slab of marble.

"Tired much?" Tatsuki asked.

Renji grunted, "Talk to me after you've faced a Sexta Espada bent on seducing you for over an hour."

Tatsuki snorted. "So, did she ever succeed?"

Giving her an incredulous look, Renji asked, "Would I have left her half-dead if she did?"

"You didn't kill her though." Tatsuki pointed out.

Leaning back, Renji thought of Rukia and stated, "Well, let's just say I know how she feels to want to be loved." _'But I've abandoned hopes of that long ago.'_

He closed his eyes. "Besides, polite women aren't my type. I like 'em aggressive." He opened an eye and looked at Tatsuki. "Kind of like you."

Thinking he was making fun of her, Tatsuki smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for, you hag?"

"What? Hag? Why you…! If you weren't injured, I'd – !"

Rangiku watched them, amused despite the gravity of the situation. That is, until Shuuhei asked her, "Rangiku-san. Do you think – ?"

"That Taichou found out about Hinamori-chan?" She tried to prop her chin on her knees, only to discover her breasts were too large to allow this. She used her curvaceous body to her advantage, and was secretly (well, not so secret, since she showed them off) proud of them. But at times like this, they annoyed her to no end. She settled for propping her elbows on her knees and chin in her hands, and murmured, "I think so. I think I feel traces of her reiatsu here."

"But where could she be?"

Mutely, Rangiku shook her head.

Meanwhile, the adults stood in utter silence; Isshin with his face buried in his hands, Yoruichi with her arms crossed, and Urahara staring at the ground.

His green and white hat sat crookedly atop his head, but Urahara didn't readjust it; he was too busy recalling where everything had started.

**Flashback**  
(A/N: Sorry about all the flashbacks folks. This is the last one in this chapter, I promise.)

_Urahara squinted at the peculiar spirit particle. It wasn't like anything he'd seen before. Its structure resembled that of a spiritual particle, but it was slightly different. More… evolved. Per usual, a hypothesis began to form in Urahara's mind. Maybe…_

"_What are you doing, Kisuke?"_

_He jumped. So lost in the idea forming in his head, Urahara hadn't even felt Yoruichi come into the room._

"_Jeez, Kisuke. Your senses must be getting dull. Why, even a decade ago, you would have noticed me sneaking up on you from a mile away."_

_Scratching his head, Urahara laughed sheepishly and hid the sample of spirit particle from her line of sight._ "_Must be so. What's are you doing here, Yoruichi-san?"_

_Looking annoyed, Yoruichi said, "I sent a message for you, but you didn't come to my summons, or even bother to answer. Just what kind of 3rd seat are you anyways?"_

_Urahara winced. He had forgotten that she'd wanted him to take up the vacant captaincy due to a recent Royal Guard promotion._

"_Um, Yoruichi-san. Truthfully, I don't think I want to be a captain yet."_

_This triggered Yoruichi's wrath. "And why in the Spirit King's name not? You can't be afraid of failing the Captaincy test! Do you just not want to shoulder the responsibility?"_

_Spot on._

_Uncomfortably, Urahara hedged, "You see, I think being an Onmitsu Kidou Unit Commander is quite a handful already."_

_Seeing that he wasn't to be persuaded, Yoruichi deflated and her face expression turned from irate to sad. "I just think that your talents are being wasted…" she gestured vaguely at the cramped makeshift workshop and said flatly, "…here."_

_Looking faintly abashed, Urahara mumbled, "Maybe in a few years…"_

_Gazing at him before averting her gaze, she muttered, "You were always stubborn." She sighed and started to leave. Just before she was about to exit the doorway, she paused._ "_If you change your mind… though I doubt you will… let me know."_

_She vanished._

_Staring at the spot she had just been, Urahara silently apologized and turned back to what he had been working on._

_Several days later, he finally discovered what the mystery particle was._

_It was a particle of the most powerful zanpakutou he had ever seen. It was more evolved, yet older than any other._

_Unmatched. Unrivaled._

_But it had no master._

_It was a rogue zanpakutou._

_He swallowed just _thinking_ about the mass of possibilities before him. He could study it in secret. He could grow a culture of it. He could use the spiritual particle to invent so many outlandish products thought to be impossible before. He could even clone the spiritual particle and forge his own, more powerful zanpakutou._

_But he was never one for much power. His sound rejection of Yoruichi's offer of Captaincy was proof enough for that._

_No._

_But what he _did_ possess was an insatiable curiosity._

_Though this curiosity had gotten him in trouble countless times, he had never taken a risk as large as this. He was the living example of 'the higher you climb, the harder you fall.'  
The bigger the prank, the harsher the consequences. The larger the project, the more painful the failure.  
If he succeeded in this endeavor, he would attain everything. But if he failed, he might lose everything._

_He set to work._

_It was an all-in._

_And then everything had gone horribly wrong. Urahara had discovered a horrible truth, and the zanpakutou was indomitable. Untamable._

_He had to tell someone, and he wracked his brains for somebody, anybody. Yoruichi briefly flashed through his mind before he quickly dismissed the thought. She already had her hands full with the leading the Onmitsu Kidou Corps as well as the Second Division._

_He had no choice but to go to the man, to the man with whom he could trust everything._

**Flashback End**

It had all been a mistake. A costly one, a crashing tsunami that still caused ripples over a century later.

"So it's breakable." Isshin said hoarsely.

Nobody needed to ask what he was talking about; of course it was the seal.

Urahara soberly said, "Yes. By consuming souls and imprisoning them within him, draining their energy continuously."

He paused after he had said this. His own words had triggered something in him. "…Of course…" he breathed. "The souls don't die immediately after they're consumed. He stores them away… and drains them bit by bit."

"And that is significant because?" Yoruichi sounded impatient.

Isshin too, had come to the same realization as Urahara.

"Because that means there's a chance we can restore the original Spirit King."

…

When Karin came to, she discovered that she was floating in nothingness. There was no pain.

'_I don't think this is death.'_ She commented, sitting up. _'I'm certainly not in Soul Society. Though I don't know if I even __**can **__get into Soul Society after I die anymore.'_ She mused.

'**Of course you can still get into Soul Society. But you're right about not being dead.'**

'_Koutetsu!'_

Karin spun around and spotted the familiar boy, though his hair and eyes were much darker than she remembered.

Reading her thoughts as he always did, he snorted. '**Of course they are. If you haven't noticed, my hair and eyes are the exact same color as the metal on your blades. They're **_**me,**_** after all.'**

Slightly embarrassed, Karin hid it behind a scowl. _'I told you not to read my mind!'_

Koutetsu shrugged. **'It's not like I can help it.'**

Karin switched the subject. _'If I'm not dead, then what am I? Everything turned black, and then…'_ She trailed off.

'**You're in stasis.'**

Suddenly becoming world-weary, Karin sighed, _'And this is what, the thousandth time I've been stuck in a state between life and death?'_

The boy corrected her, **'Actually, this is the first. The other times, you were just stuck in your own mind and soul. This time is different.'**

'…_Different in what way, exactly?' _Karin asked flatly.

'**You're… **_**in **_**the Spirit King, per se.'**

Karin suddenly stood and looked around, alarmed. _'What? He's eaten me? But didn't he say that he was going to kill me to get revenge on my dad?' _That in itself was alarming as well, she realized belatedly.

Koutetsu sighed. **'Calm down, and **_**sit**_** down for god's sake. He hasn't eaten you. You're… or rather, your **_**soul**_**... is inside the**_** original**_** Spirit King.'**

This confused her. _'What am I doing inside the real Spirit King?'_

Sighing again, Koutesu ran a hand through his hair distractedly, just as if he was thinking about how to break something big to her as delicately as possible. Karin recognized the signs. She'd seen it in Ichigo, Kyo, even _she _had done the very same thing countless times.

But if he was anything like her – which he would be, since he was part of her soul – he would fail at the 'delicate' part. Make a complete mess of it. Stomp all over the neat flowers in the garden that had been carefully pruned, if you will. Karin didn't have an inch of finesse with words, so neither would he.

Karin gulped.

And fail Koutetsu did. He failed to be delicate, _and_ to make any sense whatsoever.

'**I'm an extension of him.'**

Karin scrunched up her face, as if that could help her comprehend his words better. Him? Who was 'him'? He couldn't mean… Her eyes widened.

'_What are you talking about, Koutetsu?' _Karin asked sharply.

'**Just as Kyo's Kyuu was an extension of me, I'm an extension of him.'**

Karin was starting to see the direction this was heading. But she wanted it desperately to be a misunderstanding.

'_An extension of_ who?' Her breathing became shallow.

'**The fake Spirit King.'**

And the fake Spirit King was…

Karin's ears buzzed with the realization. She slumped back onto the ground and lay on her back, closing her eyes and hoping that it was all a dream.

Yes.

A long, terrible, nightmare. All of it, starting from her hollowfication. It was all a nightmare; it had to be. Yes, there were some good parts, like the moments she had shared with Toushirou and Kyo, but the rest were terrible. They were too terrible to be true. She would wake up and find it was all a figment of her imagination.

'**But you never had much of an imagination to begin with, Karin.' **Koutetsu voiced what Karin had thought to herself many times before to ground herself into reality. And it grounded her to reality now. She opened her eyes.

A woman walked out of the nothingness and stood over her. Karin immediately knew that she was the Spirit King.

'_**Yes. Now that you've realized, it is time for you to leave.'**_

Karin slowly stood, and saw the Spirit King was tall for a woman; about as tall as Karin might be when she was fully grown.

Resigned, Karin felt herself ebb away from that world of nothingness, back into the dimension of her nightmares.  
.

Everything was frozen. The fake Spirit King who was inches away from her, even his flames, stood completely still. It was as if time had stopped completely.

Karin exhaled, and everything flew into movement again.

But the masked 'King' couldn't touch her. His flames automatically went around her, avoiding her by millimeters. Bewildered, the mask flared his flames larger, to no avail.

Recalling what she had been about to say, Karin stated, "You're a zanpakutou, aren't you?"

The mask hissed. "So what if I am? Now I am the Spirit King!"

Ignoring this, Karin continued, "And not just any zanpakutou. The Spirit King's zanpakutou." Karin paused, and hesitated before she said the next sentence, as if she would seal her fate if she were to say it.

"_**My**_ zanpakutou."

The mask stood stock still, as if shocked. Then it got even angrier, if that was even possible.

"My only. Master. Is. The Spirit King." He hissed venomously, black flames dripping from his mouth and his body, consuming what remained of his clothes. "Only _she_ can wield me!" He howled almost sorrowfully. "And I've consumed her! I tried time and time again to undo it, but it won't work! And no one else can wield me!"

"Yes." Karin affirmed. "No one else can wield you. But I am a part of your beloved Spirit King. A partial reincarnate, if you will."

She raised Koutetsu once more, but it wasn't to attack this time. He had begun to warp, and he pulled the black flames of the mask towards him, _devouring_ them. She knew he had transformed into something that was no longer Koutetsu, but another, larger entity.

Karin's mouth moved of its own accord.

"Yakero, Kitsuryou" (Scorch, Consuming Flame)

And the zanpakutou screamed, as he was sucked into what was once a part of him, centuries ago.

Karin looked down at the new blade in her hands. It was a painfully plain sword, without even a hilt. But the blade itself shined so brightly that it looked white, and was simultaneously so dark that it looked black. It hurt to stare at it for too long.

Then the memories of the Spirit King began to pour into Karin's mind.

A lone tear traveled down the curve of her cheek and landed on the blade.

"Do you remember, Kitsuryou? The time when we were still close?" Karin - or rather the Spirit King within her - whispered.

The blade hummed in her hands, as if to reply. The humming was not angry. It felt like loneliness.

As she gripped the blade tightly, Karin found herself wishing that she had never been born. That the Spirit King had never detached a part of herself and made that part be born as Karin, for the sole purpose of conquering Kitsuryou.

Had all of her life been leading up to this?

Was she just going to disappear?

Would she ever see her family again?

Would she ever truly be with Toushirou?

If everything would be taken away anyway, it would have been better not to have been born at all. Then she wouldn't have to go through such agony.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light.

When Karin opened her eyes again, the marble palace had disappeared, replaced instead by a field of grass. She looked up, and the sun seemed different, somehow. And she looked down, and saw that she stood in front of a crimson flower.

Before her eyes, the crimson flower blossomed, grew, and formed into the woman whom Karin had seen in stasis.

"_**And now I finally meet you physically, Karin. Myself."**_

Karin looked up into the Spirit King's onyx eyes. Next she examined the Spirit King's face and saw traces of her own. But the face she stared into was endlessly more mature than Karin's could ever hope to be.

"_**You have done well. Even if it's a bit narcissistic of me to say so."**_

Karin didn't smile at this intended joke. Instead, she asked, "Will I have to merge with you?" Her voice came out scared. Plaintive. Pleading.

There was a ghost of a smile on the Spirit King's face.

"_**No, I would not be so cruel as to deny you your existence. After all, you are me, and I would be quite angered if I were denied my existence, like I have been for the past millennia. You may live on as your own, separate soul." **_She looked down at the sword in Karin's hands._** "You may keep Koutetsu as well."**_

The sword in Karin's hands spliced itself, curling into two separate forms. Soon enough, there were two blades, one that Karin recognized distinctly as Koutetsu, and the other as Kitsuryou, albeit minimally thinner. The Spirit King took Kitsuryou from Karin, and looked down sadly at it. _**"Have you learned your lesson, my friend?"**_

The blade glowed faintly, and then the light faded.

Karin asked tentatively, "So… so I don't have to merge with you?"

"_**No." **_The Spirit King's face became genuinely amused. _**"And I believe your family and friends are waiting for you."**_ She was looking over Karin's shoulder.

Turning around, Karin saw that indeed, her family and friends stood off in the distance.

Then she remembered Toushirou.

He lay in the grass a few meters away. They both went over to him. His face was stiff and there was a slight sheen of cold sweat on his face, as if he were in pain even in unconsciousness. Karin knelt by his side and asked the Spirit King, "Is there anything you can do about his powers? He… he lost them, trying to protect you… or your zanpakutou."

The Spirit King looked sad. "_**His lost reiatsu will return in time. However, I can lessen his pain and shorten his period of unconsciousness."**_

The Spirit King bent over and touched a hand to Toushirou's forehead, and his face muscles relaxed. Straightening, the Spirit King said, _**"He'll wake up within a few days. A week at most."**_

She turned to her own subordinates, who had cautiously approached her. The green-haired man looked bewildered, and the others, including Kuchiki Seishou, looked awed. _**"Now, I must return to my duties and fix the mess that Kitsuryu has made of the Spirit World."**_ She looked down sternly at the blade in her hand. It hummed indignantly, and she conceded, _**"Alright. I suppose I should just be thankful you didn't ruin the Spirit World completely."**_

Karin thought she detected just an itsy bitsy, teensy bit of sarcasm in that sentence. Nevertheless, Kitsuryou seemed appeased. The Spirit King seemed annoyed at the blade's lack of repentance._**"Still as stubborn as ever, I see. Even almost a millennia of shouldering the King's taxing responsibilities hasn't fixed that. And you're going to have to spit out my family and other subordinates later." **_The zanpakutou hummed rather sullenly in reply.

The Spirit King then spoke to Karin_**, "I will open the portal into the human world for you and your companions."**_

Reading Karin's look, she said, _**"You may tell them whatever you like, though if you're like me, you will tend to speak the truth."**_ She winked. _**"As it's considerably easier than inventing lies."**_

As the King opened the gate, Karin motioned for everybody to come over.

They were bewildered as to what had taken place.

"What was – "  
"How did – "  
"Who is – "

Karin held up her hands and said loudly, "I'll explain later. Later. First, I need help carrying this dead weight." She indicated Toushirou. Renji and Ichigo heaved him up on both sides, Renji wincing as he did so. Tatsuki shooed him away and took his place at Toushirou's side. "Buzz off, pineapple-head. You're injured, so I'll help Ichigo."

Meanwhile, the Spirit King stepped towards Isshin and Urahara, who instinctively knew who she was.

Urahara took off his hat and bowed to her. "Forgive me, Spirit King."

"_**On the contrary, I should thank you for sealing my zanpakutou. Without your actions, I doubt that I'd be talking to you here and now."**_

She then addressed Isshin. "_**And I am grateful that you sacrificed your powers to seal my zanpakutou."**_

Isshin too, bowed to her. "No, I should thank you for sending me such a brave daughter."

That surprised the Spirit King. Regaining her composure, she remarked, "_**Ah. So you know already."**_

He gave Urahara a sidelong glance. "Well, if not for this guy, I probably wouldn't have even suspected it."

They heard Karin call over, "Hey Dad! Urahara-san! Hurry up!"

Isshin was astonished that his daughter hadn't called him 'Beardy.' She only called him 'Dad' when she was wheedling for something.

_**"Perhaps your daughter has finally realized what a worthy father you are."**_ Isshin looked back at the Spirit King. She smiled – no, grinned, and Isshin thought he saw a hint of Karin in her._**"It is high time you leave. Perhaps we will meet again."**_

From her face expression, he could tell she didn't really think so. He doubted it as well.

However, Isshin saluted the Spirit King one last time before he too, turned to leave through the portal along with his companions.

Karin was the last to leave, but she didn't look back at the Spirit King. She knew that the Spirit King wasn't looking back at her either. The two had their backs to each other, as a covenant that they would never again be together.

As Karin stepped through the gate of light, it occurred to her that she hadn't asked the Spirit King for her name. The Spirit King's name hadn't come along with the memories. It was as if there were purposeful holes where the name should have been.

And then even the Spirit King's memories faded from Karin's mind. Then Karin realized that the Spirit King had never intended to merge with her from the start.

The woman behind her would remain evermore as the nameless Spirit King in Karin's memories.

…

…

A/N: Finally… the main plot is over… hm... maybe a bit anticlimactic, but this is what I had planned all along.  
I actually considered ending the story here, but then I remembered the romance between Karin and Toushirou... :P There are still some loose ends to tie up between them.  
So tune in next time… [for the epilogue(?)]


	38. Epilogue:The Finale

**Chapter 38: Epilogue:The Finale**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: For those of you who think it's odd that it's not 'Spirit Queen' I'll just tell you outright. 'King' is just a title in this story. I decided to take a leaf out of Patricia C. Wrede's book, '_**Dealing with Dragons.' **_;]

…

**Epilogue**

The Finale

…

The shinigami had taken an unconscious Toushirou back to Soul Society. Rukia had assured Karin that she would keep her updated.

Renji had said goodbye to Tatsuki, who had said in return, "Good riddance." But they had shaken hands and Tatsuki had grinned at him nonetheless.

Rukia had briefly embraced Ichigo before going entering into the gate.

As the Senkaimon closed behind the shinigami, Karin felt her heart break. She would probably never see Toushirou again. If he had lost his shinigami powers, he would never be allowed to come to the human world again.

Belatedly, Karin realized that she had missed the soccer match. She found that she didn't mind too much. There were things much more important things than soccer. Like saving the Spirit, and therefore the Human, World.

Karin had initially thought that she would have a _lot_ of explaining to do, but nobody asked her anything. It almost unnerved her, but she was grateful for it, as she had time to mourn, uninterrupted by any questions, demands, or explanations.

They had brought Kyo's body back.

There was no paperwork to file, as he had technically never existed. But Isshin began the funeral preparations anyway.

"We'll bury him in the family grave." He assured Karin.

Though the family grave consisted only of her mother, Karin nodded.

The next day, they held a small service for him. There was no wake, no vigil, no ceremonial process, except the cremation and burial, and the carving of his name on the stone.

They had hesitated over Kyo's name, not knowing the kanji for it. They didn't want to write it in katakana. They wavered over the kanji 杏 for apricot, the normal kanji used for boys' names, but in the end decided to use the kanji 強 for strong.

And so life returned to normal in Karakura town; no more 'serial murders,' no more 'mysterious maulings.'

The Kurosaki family also returned to normal. Karin and Yuzu returned to their normal school lives, part-time nursing jobs, and their respective club activities; soccer for Karin, home-economics for Yuzu. Ichigo went to University again, with a rather grim look on his face whenever he came back; he had missed many classes following Karin's hollowfication, after all.

On the following Monday, Karin went to soccer practice, bracing herself for a scalding tirade. She wasn't disappointed; sure enough, the coach gave her a piece of his mind.

"Kurosaki! Your absence on Saturday almost cost us the game!"

"But we won… right?" She already knew the answer to that, as Seta had discreetly told her.

"No thanks to you!" The coach roared, his spittle spraying over Karin.

Though wincing and silently thinking _'say it, don't spray it,'_ Karin answered robotically word for word, "Due to extraneous circumstances, I could not attend the match." as if she had memorized a paper. Which she essentially had. All during her classes, she had repeatedly rehearsed what she was going to say in excuse.

Thankfully, the coach thought that she had merely overslept, and let her off with a strict warning.

"I'll set Hiko on you for the semi-finals, Kurosaki! You won't be late if the captain himself comes to pick you up."

Karin smiled sheepishly, and got ready for the scrimmage.

A week passed, but Karin never heard from Rukia. She suspected her brother still kept in touch, but was withholding information from her for some reason.

Though Karin ached for news of Toushirou, she figured that no news was good news and didn't press Ichigo with questions. If anything important had happened, Ichigo would surely have told her.

Come the second week, Karakura High's soccer team breezed through the district semi finals.

The third week, Karin found herself tying the laces of her cleats in the locker room of the stadium, prepping for the pre-game warm up.

As she exited the locker room, she saw Seta waiting for her.

"Senpai!" She called out.

He turned and smiled at her. "You ready? We've gotten to the finals."

She grinned and imitated the coach, "District finals? This is just the start. We're aiming for the nationals this year!"

They burst into laughter as they strode out onto the field.

All traces of mirth disappeared once they started the game. This game was definitely more difficult than the semi-finals. Their opponent was the team that had gone onto the nationals last year.

At the half-time break, when they were losing 2 to 1, the coach decided to change formation.

"This opponent is tough. We're switching to the 4-3-3 triangle. Hiko, you be the center forward. And Kurosaki," he pointed at Karin, "you be the left-wing supporter."

With the change of formation, there was drastic improvement in their team's performance. She and Hiko worked well with each other, and she had equally good teamwork with her side of the midfield – Seta and Eiji – as well.

The game ended 2 to 3, and there was a loud cheering from their side of the stadium.

The boys an around the field ecstatically, stripping off their shirts and swinging them around, or imitating the teams from the World Cup by pulling their shirts over their faces and fist pumping in the air. The coach too was jumping for joy.

It occurred to Karin this would have been a big step towards her dream if she had never been hollowfied.

Now, she didn't know what she wanted. Should she pursue a career in soccer? A career in medics? Or kendo?

Or, she thought jokingly, should she just die and become a shinigami? That would earn her some cash, according to Toushirou. Or would that only be for captains?

Perhaps it was because she was thinking of Toushirou that Karin thought she caught a glimpse of silver among the crowd before being pulled into the pile of boys gathering in a big group hug.

When she emerged from the group hug looking considerably worse for the wear, she looked at the direction she had seen the flash of silver.

She saw it again, and her heart fell as she realized what it really was. It was the silver glinting off of a watch.

What had she been expecting? Of course it wasn't Toushirou.

When Karin saw her family approaching, she brightened. She opened her arms to hug Yuzu, only to be pushed away, because of Karin 'stank.' So she latched onto the men of her family instead, jumping onto their backs to put them both in headlocks.

Karin knew that this display of excitement was unusual for her. But hey, she was excited. Her soccer team was headed towards the nationals. She should be happy, shouldn't she?

But as her soccer team attempted to drag her along to the after-party, she made a lame excuse of 'being tired,' and slipped away.

Karin waved her family off to the car, preferring to meander home by herself. If that didn't work out, she could always just flash-step back.

As she trudged back home, she pondered if it was high time to tell her family what had taken place between her and the two Spirit Kings. What should she say to the others? She recalled the Spirit King saying, _'If you're like me, you will tend to speak the truth.'_

Rolling her eyes to the heavens, Karin wondered, would they believe her if she said she was part of the Spirit King, sent down to the human world to be reborn… to defeat the Spirit King's – her – own zanpakutou?

Jamming her hands into her pockets, Karin snorted.

"Sounds ridiculous even to me." She muttered. Not to mention that it made her head spin just to think about it.

'_But they're my family. They know I'm bad at lying, so they'll either believe me, or think I'm deluded. What's the worst they can do, take me to a psychiatrist? Send me to an asylum?' _She had to admit the latter was a pretty terrible fate, but hey, their family had shinigami and whatchamacallits- spiritual suppressors? – like Yuzu. They might as well include the human manifestation of part of the Spirit King herself.

Deciding it best to tell them the truth, Karin heaved a sigh, and her mind wandered off to other things.

Before she knew it, her thoughts had turned back to Toushirou.

That flash of silver earlier… why had she thought it was Toushirou? His hair wasn't bright enough for her to mistake a reflection of the sun off a wristwatch for it.

If she ever wanted to go see him again, she would probably have to beg her older brother to contact Rukia to ask her if she could be let into Soul Society for a day… or even half a day… or even a minute, if she could only _see_ Toushirou. Just a glimpse.

Karin berated herself for mooning over a _boy_. That was unimaginable for the former Kurosaki Karin.

Karin resolved that she would get over Toushirou and _fast_, to concentrate on her studies and soccer. No sooner than when she had barely managed to steer her thoughts away from Toushirou, the wandered back to him, like magnets.

Alright. She would just admit it; she was wallowing. All her cheerfulness until now, had been a front. She may not be good at lying, but she was good at hiding her feelings. After all, that was what she had done ever since her mother died. Put up a strong façade, and she had grown into it. She had grown up to be strong and cynical.

"I should forget about him." Karin murmured to herself.

"I hope that 'him' is referring to that soccer captain."

Karin froze. That voice…

"What, you're not going to greet me?" The voice sounded put out. "Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'll just have to go over to you."

She felt arms wrap around her shoulders, and a chin rest on her shoulder. A familiar scent of mint and grass washed over her.

"Toushirou…"

Karin tried to turn around to look at him, but he kept her firmly in place, murmuring, "Just a bit longer. I like staying like this."

So Karin leaned back into him, as he leaned onto her.

"How long will you be staying?" Karin whispered.

"How long do you _want_ me to stay?" His voice tickled her ear.

"…You know the answer to that, dummy."

"Hm… Let's see. A week?"

Karin shook her head.

"A month, then?"

Karin paused then shook her head.

"A day?"

Frowning, Karin she shook her head harder.

"A few hours?" He teased.

Karin shook her head still more vehemently.

"Just one hour, then?"

Unable to stand his teasing any more, Karin pushed off his arms and turned around. "Longer, not shorter, stupid!"

Though Toushirou's face was as calm as usual, his eyes were devious. "How long, then?" He seemed determined to make her say it.

She buried her face into his chest, muffling her words.

"f…ver."

His mouth quirked up into a smile. "I didn't quite catch that. Can you say it again?"

"F…ever." Karin mumbled

"Hmm? What was that?"

Karin leaned back in his arms and said indignantly, "How many times are you going to make me say it?"

Gazing at her through half-lidded eyes, Toushirou said slyly, "Until I hear it properly."

Her cheeks reddening, Karin shouted, "Forever! And ever! And ever!"

Grinning broadly, Toushirou leaned his forehead against hers and said, "Then that's how long I'll stay."

And he kissed her.

…

…

A/N: It's been a long ride, and thanks for sticking with me.  
I really enjoyed reading the reviews, and… dare I say it? …It was actually fun writing this. Stressful, but fun.

And now, it's time to take a bow.

- Haeyin

PS. Next chapter will be deleted scenes from this story, as well as an alternate ending.


	39. Alternate Epilogue and Deleted Scenes

**Chapter 39: Alternate Epilogue and Deleted Scenes**

* * *

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

**A/N:** An alternate ending, like I promised, though the beginning is about the same, Karin shows a completely different reaction at Toushirou's appearance.  
Afterwards, there are deleted scenes I wrote for this story that didn't quite make it in, because they didn't fit the story flow, or because I changed the details, or they were too… well, _explicit_…

But if you _like_ reading spicy scenes, I would recommend reading at least Chapter 30's deleted scene. :P

…

**Alternate Epilogue**

The Finale (B)

…

The shinigami had taken an unconscious Toushirou back to Soul Society. Rukia had assured Karin that she would keep her updated.

As the Senkaimon closed behind the shinigami, Karin felt her heart break. She would probably never see Toushirou again. If he had lost his shinigami powers, he would never be allowed to come to the human world again.

Karin had initially thought that she would have a _lot_ of explaining to do, but nobody asked her anything. It almost unnerved her, but she was grateful for it, as she had time to mourn for Kyo, uninterrupted by any questions, demands, or explanations.

And so life returned to normal in Karakura town; no more 'serial murders,' no more 'mysterious maulings.'

The Kurosaki family also returned to normal. Karin and Yuzu returned to their normal routine; school, part-time nursing jobs, and their respective club activities; soccer for Karin, home-economics for Yuzu. Ichigo went to University again, with a rather grim look on his face whenever he came back; he had missed many classes following Karin's hollowfication, after all.

On the following Monday, Karin went to soccer practice, bracing herself for a scalding tirade. She wasn't disappointed; sure enough, the coach gave her a piece of his mind.  
…

A week passed, but Karin never heard from Rukia. She suspected her brother still kept in touch, but was withholding information from her for some reason.

Though Karin ached for news of Toushirou, she told herself that no news was good news and didn't press Ichigo with questions. If anything important had happened, Ichigo would surely have told her, right?

Still, she resented the situation, Rukia, her brother, and most of all, Toushirou. If he had woken up, shouldn't he at least contact her? Then a thought occurred to her, one that made her feel like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped over her. Had Toushirou forgotten about her? Had he gone back to Soul Society and decided that he didn't lo – like her anymore?

Then she realized how ridiculously cliché girly-hopelessly-in-love thoughts she was thinking. She mentally bashed herself over the head and shoved all thoughts of Toushirou from her mind. He could go boil his own head, for all she cared.  
…

Come the second week, Karakura High's soccer team breezed through the district semi finals.  
…

The third week, Karin found herself celebrating with her team Karakura High's first win in the district finals and their first entrance into the High School Soccer Nationals. After the exuberant celebration, Karin walked back alone; so naturally, her thoughts automatically turned to Toushirou.

"I should just forget about him." Karin murmured to herself.

"That 'him' better not be referring to me."

Karin froze. That voice…

However, she didn't turn around.

"What, you're not going to greet me?" The voice sounded put out. "Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'll just have to go over to you."

She felt arms wrap around her shoulders, and a chin rest on her shoulder. She closed her eyes as the familiar scent of mint and grass washed over her.

"Toushirou…"

Karin quickly recovered from her half-hypnotized state. Prying his arms off of her shoulders, she whirled around and demanded, "Why are you here? _How _are you here? I mean – "

The silver-haired boy looked rather hurt at the less-than-welcoming reception. He frowned. "I thought you would be happy to see me. But I see I was mistaken." He crossed his arms, glowering at her.

This gross misunderstanding shocked Karin. She protested loudly, "Of _course_ I'm glad to see you!"

"Well, you sure don't look like it!" Toushirou yelled back.

That did it. Karin was _not_ going to put up with this. Not after all that emotional turmoil she had gone through because of him. Her temper broke like a floodgate.

"I'm worried for you, you idiot!" Karin shouted. "If you were okay, you could have at least contacted me, for heaven's sake! But _no_, you didn't have _time_ for me, did you? Do you have _any_ idea how worried I've been for the past three weeks? I never thought I'd feel this way for _anybody_! To love someone so much that it _hurts…_" She clenched at the area her heart was.

Toushirou gaped at this sudden confession, making Karin all the angrier. "You!" She hissed, stabbing a finger into his chest. "Who do you think you are, anyways! You suddenly barge into my life,_ brutally_ inform me what love means, then _trample_ all over my heart, and you think you can just shove your way back in again? _I_ _don't think so!_"

She snapped around and knowing full well that he couldn't keep up with her, flash-stepped away.

Toushirou tried to stop her, but she had already vanished. He lowered his hand, a pained look on his face.

**Flashback**

_He had awoken a week after he'd been taken to Soul Society. As expected, he had lost all his spiritual powers._

_He also lost something – someone – much more important than his spiritual powers could ever be. The grandmother who had taken both Toushirou and Momo in had passed away. Toushirou had fought to swallow the lump in his throat when he saw what his granny had left him: a batch of amanatto that she had made herself, despite her weak state. She had known that she was running out of time._

_After the village burial, Rangiku put a hand on her captain's shoulder. Knowing that she was comforting him, Toushirou said quietly, "She lived a good, long life." The hand on his shoulder gave a gentle squeeze._

_Though Rangiku's comfort was appreciated, he only wanted to see one person._

_To hold, be held._

_Afterwards, he had gone back to Seireitei to officially resign. The Commander had shaken his head, saddened, as Toushirou handed in his captain's haori. In the ordinary resignation process, Toushirou would have had to hand in his zanpakutou as well, except he no longer had one; Hyourinmaru had disappeared completely after his battle with Aizen._

_"Sou-taichou, may I ask one favor?" Toushirou had asked._

_"Anything, Hitsugaya-Tai… no. Hitsugaya Toushirou, former captain of the Tenth Division. You have rendered the whole of Soul Society a great service." The Commander had said._

_When the Commander heard Toushirou's wish, he looked grave, but allowed it nonetheless._

_"Your presence in Seireitei will be greatly missed."_

_Toushirou privately thought that they would have no use for a boy with no spiritual powers left._

_They had then contacted Urahara to prepare a gigai. Toushirou had requested Rukia not to tell Karin anything; he wanted to surprise her._

_All the shinigami, his fellow comrades, and his former division, had gone ahead of him to the entrance of the Senkaimon to bid him farewell. Rangiku had embraced him tightly, and for once, Toushirou didn't resist._

_Toushirou had never been one much for words, but he left them with this: "I'll come back sometime or another."_

_Then he had left through the gate, to the human world._

**Flashback End**

Toushirou had come all this way and found Karin, but he hadn't been able to voice what he truly wanted to say.

Sighing heavily, Toushirou headed towards the one place that he could take solace in.

…

Karin leaned back against the base of the tree, depressed.

"Why… why did I get angry at him like that…?" She berated herself. She had been so happy to see him, but it had come out all wrong. How on earth had the conversation – nay, no use denying that it had escalated into an outright shouting match – turned in that direction?

She sat there for what seemed like ages. When the sun had begun to set, she heard a rustling sound.

Though she felt nothing, she immediately knew whom it was. This forest was his and her sacred place, after all. The place where they had first met.

Toushirou sat right beside her, his arm barely brushing against hers, but she was acutely aware of his proximity.

"Karin."

Too ashamed of her earlier outburst, Karin didn't answer.

"Karin." He said more firmly. "Look at me."

When she didn't, she felt him take her chin and gently turn her head to look at him. Earnest sea-green eyes looked into hers.

"Karin. Did you really mean it when you said you loved me?" Toushirou asked.

Had she let that slip? She had, hadn't she.

But she had meant it.

Looking away from Toushirou's eyes, Karin nodded. Letting go of her chin and taking her hands in his, Toushirou said once again, "Karin, look at me. Please."

Briefly looking down at her hands, Karin thought that they seemed small compared to his; then she raised her gaze.

"Are you that clueless? Don't you know what you mean to me yet?" Toushirou said softly. "I came to the human world _for you_. I have nothing left in Soul Society. You're all that I have."

His eyes, beautiful as they were, were filled with sorrow, and at the same time, hope.

"Won't you take me back? Into your life."

Unable to bear looking into eyes filled with such sadness, Karin buried her face into his chest.

"Stupid… How can I say no if you ask me like that…"

…

Later, the Kurosaki family plus one Hitsugaya Toushirou sat at the dinner table (the family hadn't asked any questions. They'd just wordlessly given him the guestroom). That day happened to be the monthly meat-grilling session, which always entailed an intense battle for half the Kurosaki family. As of late, Ichigo had also been participating in the meat-battle, on account of retaining his muscle.

Who said 'the more the merrier?' Karin thought, annoyed. Battling with her father had been hard enough without her brother joining in.

Toushirou was confused as to why the three-quarters of the Kurosaki family were so tense, gripping their chopsticks like they were at their last meal. Also, he wondered why the pile of raw meat at the edge of the table was so large. Did they _really_ need that much meat?

Then, Yuzu switched on the grill, signaling the beginning of the battle. Immediately the three more aggressive Kurosaki family members' chopsticks lunged for the raw meat, and put as many as they could on the grill. Though Yuzu was used to this and chomped away on other side dishes, Toushirou eyes widened at the sight. He turned to Yuzu and asked, "What's going on?"

Yuzu popped an an umeboshi into her mouth, saying simply, "It's meat day." as if that explained everything.

"Hey! That's the meat _I _put on the grill!"  
"That doesn't make it yours! All unclaimed meat is fair game!"

As Isshin and Ichigo squabbled over whom the meat belonged to, Karin stealthily stole the meat out of Isshin's bowl and ate it herself. Talk about sneaky.

Toushirou looked on, amused by the sheer intensity with which the Kurosakis' were fighting over the meat. They were practically dueling with chopsticks; teaming ups(two on one), backstabbing(stealing the meat while the other two battled away), and using one chopstick to block the others and the other to spear the meat for him/herself.

Noticing that Toushirou wasn't eating much, Karin grabbed another piece of cooked meat and placed it on top of his rice. Catching his quizzical look, Karin shrugged and said, "I figured you wouldn't get a chance at the meat otherwise."

From then on, half of the proceeds she was able to snatch from the grill piled up onto his plate. Toushirou looked at the growing number of meat slices in front of him, puzzled. Finally, he asked, "What are you doing?"

Placing another chunk of meat on his rice, Karin replied, "Isn't it obvious? I'm giving you meat!"

"Why? If I were hungry, I'd get it myself."

Grabbing a piece of meat from the grill, Ichigo put his two cents in. "You aren't eating. A boy your age needs to eat to grow."

Toushirou gave him a deadpan look. "I _am_ eating."

Karin said incredulously, "You call that eating? You've barely picked at your food! Normally you'd have gobbled it all down with time to spare!"

After a moment, Toushirou set his chopsticks down. "…I've been like this since I woke up."

…In other words, ever since Toushirou had lost his spiritual powers. Everybody paused in the middle of the meat battle and the atmosphere became substantially more subdued. Toushirou quietly excused himself.

Karin started to rise to go after him, but Isshin motioned for her to stay in her seat. "I'll go have a talk with him." Frowning, Karin opened her mouth to say something, but Isshin said firmly, "It's a talk, man to man."

He left the table, leaving Karin staring after them both.

Isshin found Toushirou looking outside the living-room window at the inky sky.

"Looking at the stars?" Isshin asked, and though Toushirou was able to suppress a jump, he couldn't deny the fact that his heartrate had increased, just a little.

Seemingly not noticing Toushirou's surprise, Isshin walked up to the window and stood beside him. Conversationally, he remarked, "Back when I sealed the Spirit King's zanpakutou, I used my second bankai. 'Course, I lost my powers afterwards."

Pretending not to see Toushirou's stunned look, Isshin peered up at the night sky and continued, "It was tough at first, you know, like losing a sense, suddenly becoming blind, or deaf. But I got used to it."

His tone was casual, as if he wasn't aware that Toushirou had lost his shinigami powers. Toushirou knew that Isshin was only feigning ignorance about that; that was just Isshin's way of being considerate of Toushirou's pride, but Toushirou was nonetheless grateful for it.

"Well, now I know you can't see any stars out of this window. You'd probably have to go to the roof for that." He clapped Toushirou on the shoulder. "I'm still hungry, so I'm going back to finish my dinner. But maybe Karin's done eating." Isshin grinned at Toushirou before leaving.

…

Isshin had returned casually to the dinner table, and when he found a pile of cooked meat on his plate, he tucked into it voraciously. Without looking at Karin, he said, "He'll be fine. He's a man, let him deal with his own problems." Karin didn't find that very helpful. But she resolved that she would treat Toushirou like she normally did, without trying to be 'considerate' of his feelings. So what if he had lost his spiritual powers? That didn't make him any less of a man in her mind. It didn't make her love him any less.

As if he knew what his daughter was thinking, Isshin said with his mouth full, "I told him he could see the stars better on the roof."

Ichigo and Yuzu winced as bits of rice and meat flew out of his mouth, but Karin didn't see as she had immediately excused herself.

"Thanks for the meal." She hurriedly put her dishes away and went outside. Sure enough, she could see a tuft of white hair on the roof.

Like Isshin had suggested, Toushirou had gone to the roof. Absently searching for Cassiopeia among the stars, he commented to himself, "At most, it'll be a few centuries." As soon as the sentence had left his lips, a century suddenly seemed like an infinitely long time, though he knew that people in Soul Society - like the sou-taichou - lived for millennia.

"Well, isn't this something. You're not moping." Came an amused voice.

Irritated, Toushirou turned to Karin and said snappishly, "I don't mope."

"Hey, I'm generously letting you back into my life, so shouldn't you be rejoicing?" Karin teased, sitting beside him, pinching his nose and shaking it slightly.

Toushirou wrinkled his nose, and removing her hand from his face, he asked in mock annoyance, "Aren't you the one who said you loved me?"

Karin raised an eyebrow and leaned away from him. "Oh? So you're saying you don't?"

Toushirou chuckled, and pulled her close again by the small of her back. "You know the answer to that, Kurosaki."

Feigning sternness, Karin returned, "Tell me, just to be sure."

"Alright… Since you're too clueless to even know the answer to such an obvious question, I'll just spell it out for you."

Expectantly, Karin raised her eyes to Toushirou's and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I love you, Kurosaki Karin."

She smiled and turned her head for a kiss.

…

…

**A/N:** I know that this is the more complex ending (that might have fit better for an unnecessarily complex story like mine…) but I preferred the shorter one, because this one is more angsty. What with his granny dying and all.

…

And now, I present to you...

**The Deleted Scenes!**

The format I'll be using:

Chapter # – brief description of setting  
Actual scene: (if applicable)  
Deleted Scene:  
Reason for the cut:

**Chapter 4** – When a still-hollowfying Karin is bathing in the lake.

**Actual scene:**  
The white-haired shinigami dashed out from the trees. Spotting Karin, he scowled. "Taking a swim, huh? I spent half the morning looking for you."

She had a right to be clean as well. Annoyed, Karin parried, "You said you'd keep watch until I was awake. You're the one who left first." Never mind she hadn't even noticed his absence. Karin knew she was being uncharacteristically childish, but she did not want to lose an argument to this secretive, rude boy whose name she didn't even know.

Without further ado, said rude boy ordered, "Get out."

Karin backed out deeper into the lake at this. She yowled, "Why?"

"You don't plan on swimming the whole day, do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

She could feel her cheeks getting red with anger. "What's it to you?"

"I can't stay here and play bodyguard the whole time, now can I?" He said sarcastically. "So I'm going to teach you survival basics."

Karin's eye twitched. If she got any angrier, she felt the water might boil around her. "I can survive in the wild just fine!"

The boy's patience seemed to be wearing thin as well. Tapping his foot, he responded, "Not for the wild. For hollows."

So that's what he meant. Cooling down a bit, she told him, "Turn around then."

That caught him off guard. "What?"

Glowering at him, Karin repeated, "Turn. Around. Or do you want a show while I get dressed?"

**Deleted scene:  
**Crouching at the edge of the lake, Karin tried not to look at her reflection. Cupping her hands to ladle up some water, Karin awkwardly drank. The mask was covering more of her mouth than before. Though she felt less panicky than the day before, she found this _slightly_ depressing. Just a bit.

Sitting back, Karin began to organize the situation in her mind. Half of her face was encased in a mask, and every once in a while, it expanded. This, according to the boy, was "hollowfying." She couldn't think any further because her thoughts were interrupted by her sheer filthiness. Karin stared intently at the lake before her, considering whether the freezing water would be worth feeling minimally cleaner. Finally deciding that it would be, she stripped off her clothes and dove into the lake.

It was an odd sensation to have the lake immediately swallow most of her body, but still have a good portion of her face unexposed to the water.

Once Karin ran out of air, she burst to the surface. After her body felt halfway clean, Karin waded to where her clothes were, her teeth chattering. The water was _cold_.

But not as cold as that boy.

Karin still shuddered whenever she remembered the cold turquoise eyes of the shinigami from before.

Toushirou had returned to the tree that Karin had been sleeping under only to find her gone. His mouth twisted in annoyance._ 'Where did she go?'_

He had no choice but to look for her. Following her spiritual energy, he found himself at the mouth of a lake. _'So she had gone swimming?'_ He thought, incredulous. Then he saw a flash of beige and gray, and he turned that direction, and was greeted by the sight of Karin. With no clothes on. It would have been any other boy's dream to see a slender girl naked among the trees, as if she were a forest nymph. But this was Hitsugaya Toushirou and Kurosaki Ichigo's _younger sister_.

They both froze when they saw each other and stared at each other in horror, like deer caught in headlights. Regaining their senses, Toushirou turned around, and Karin dove inside the water, their faces blushing a furious red.

**Reason for the cut:** I left this out because I thought the regular 'bathing scenario' was too cliché. Though I still included it indirectly? Haha…

**Chapter 10 – **Choosing reinforcements in Seireitei

**Actual scene:**  
The aforementioned Commander announced in his gravelly voice, "All of you present must have heard of the current situation in Karakura town." He paused to look sternly around with his slitted eyes at all of the captains, save for the absent Toushirou and the as of yet to be replaced 5th Division Captain. "I called you all here because Hitsugaya-taichou has requested for reinforcements. He originally requested for Abarai taichou and Hisagi taichou and 11th Division's 3rd seat Ikkaku…"

Thinking of Rukia and Ichigo, Renji said immediately agreed to volunteer himself. "I am free."

Yamamoto sou-taichou nodded his head once in approval. His eyes flickered to Shuuhei, the 9th Division captain, next. Shuuhei bowed. "I will do as you command."

Scanning the rows of captains to his right and left, he asked, "Anyone else?"

**Deleted Scene:**  
Renji stepped forward to volunteer himself.

"Abarai-taichou." The Sou-taichou nodded in approval. "In fact, I assign you to be in charge of putting together a team to go to the human world." He nodded, and dismissed the captains present. That was one less decision for him to make.

As each of the captains filed out one by one, Renji was stopped by Byakuya.

"I shall accompany you to the human world."

"K-Kuchiki-taichou…" Renji was a loss for words.

Reading the expression on his former lieutenant's face, Byakuya said, "It is only because Rukia is there."

Renji nodded at this; it was probably as close to an explanation as he would get.

**Reason for cut: **…I just didn't want to have to deal with Byakuya + Ichigo interaction. I had a feeling that it would be _very_ strenuous to write, and I would focus on Byakuya so much that I thought I might end up making it a ByakuKarin if I put him in there x_X a REAL crack pairing, even more so than HitsuKarin.

**Chapter 24** - When Karin wakes up with no memories

**Deleted Scene:**  
Karin was thoroughly confused. Where was she? What was she doing here? When Karin looked around the small room, she saw a boy who looked her age, wearing torn jeans and a black shirt, asleep on the floor. Well, the proper phrase for it would be 'lying unconscious,' she supposed.

Curious, she went over to him. Looking down at his face, she thought he looked vaguely familiar. While she wondered whom he resembled, his eyes flashed open, and she saw they were black, like hers. He stared at her. Embarrassed at being caught looking so closely at him while he had been asleep, Karin backed up, only to have the boy jump on her, hugging her with surprising strength.

Karin was so confused that it was starting to irritate her. Shoving the boy off of her, she exclaimed, "Who are you? Do I know you?"

The boy stumbled back, looking hurt. "You don't remember me?"

Impatiently, she said, "If I did, would I even ask?"

Taking hold of her shoulders and shaking her, he said desperately, "I'm your brother! Kyo! Kurosaki Kyo!"

She considered saying that she didn't remember anything, but would he take advantage of her complete lack of memories? Still staring at her, he opened his mouth as if about to say something, when they heard a melodic tenor voice say, "Oh, you're both awake."

Karin whirled her head around, to the source of the voice. A figure clad all in white had entered the room. The person continued, "You shouldn't pressure her too much. It seems like she doesn't remember anything."

Turning angrily towards the person in white, the boy said roughly, "Who are you, anyways?"

**Reason for cut:** I decided to plant Kyo in Las Noches first, and not make him a "citizen" of Karakura.

**Chapter 29** – Midoriko approaching the amnesiac Karin at school

**Actual version:**  
A girl approached them. Yuzu hurriedly wrote 'Midoriko' on her paper and showed Karin in the pretense of passing her a textbook. Karin had to applaud Yuzu for her suaveness despite her demure appearance. If only she had half of that skill…

"What is it, Midoriko?" Karin asked. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was almost eight o'clock. "Hurry up and spit it out, class is about to start." The latter sentence just seemed to roll off her tongue. Had she always been this blunt?

Midori smiled and hugged Karin around the shoulders, "I just wanted to say I'm happy to see you back safe, Karin-chan."

Karin smiled back at her and nodded, shooing her off as the bell rang and the teacher came in, calling for the students' attention.

**Deleted Scene:**  
Midori smiled at Karin. "I just wanted to say I'm happy to see you back safe, Karin-chan."

She then turned to Toushirou, who seemed to be the real motive that she had come over. "And you've come back to school as well, Hitsugaya-kun."

Toushirou's brow twitched at this mode of address. If not Hitsugaya-taichou, it was Hitsugaya, without any 'kun' attached like a pathetic tail to the end. Besides, only Momo had called him that. He paused in that line of thought. He was surprised he could think of Momo with such nonchalance. Without any pain.

It took him a moment to realize that Midori was talking to him again.

"Say, can I call you Toushirou-kun?" Midori asked in a sweet voice.

Veins popped out on the back of both Toushirou and Karin's heads.

Toushirou disliked it because if he didn't like anybody calling him 'Hitsugaya-kun' he sure as hell wouldn't like anybody calling him 'Toushirou-kun.' He only tolerated Yuzu calling him that because he had no choice.

Tempted as he was to just be rude and say 'no,' he forced a smile that looked like he was getting his teeth pulled out without any anesthesia and agreed. "You can."

"Alright! Toushirou-kun it is, then!" Midori chirped. The bell rang a second time, and the teacher walked in and clapped her hands. "Oops, class has started! See you later."

Karin felt a twinge of annoyance. Okay, maybe more than a twinge. What did it matter to her, anyways? Nevertheless, she sent a scathing glare Toushirou's way.

Toushirou felt a stabbing glare from his right. But when he looked to his right, Karin was looking away from him, to the teacher.

**Reason for the Cut:** Karin would then be angry with Toushirou for too many things. And for some reason, I didn't think it quite fit the mood of the story.

**Chapter 31 – **Right after Karin gets her body back from her hollow.

**Actual scene:  
**Karin didn't answer, instead staring at him with hard eyes. Toushirou turned away and muttered, "Gee. And here I was, thinking that I had _finally_ gotten you to see me as a man…"

Though he said that quietly, Karin nevertheless heard and reddened, though whether from anger or from embarrassment, Toushirou had no idea.

About to storm out of the room, Karin snatched the dagger from Toushirou's hands, and cursed loudly as the dagger cut her hand in the process. Toushirou was on his feet and beside her in a flash. Picking up her injured hand, he examined the cut on the muscle of her thumb and put blue-glowing fingers to it. At his cool touch, the wound healed.

"I should teach you some healing kidou." he murmured, keeping his hand on hers. "All the times you hurt yourself… you'll need it."

This made Karin look up into his turquoise eyes, earnestly looking down at her. For a brief moment, it seemed like they were going to kiss again. But the moment was broken as Karin jerked her hand out of his.

**Deleted scene V1:**  
Karin looked up, her eyes smoldering, not with desire like a moment before, but with anger.

Snatching up the dagger, she left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Toushirou gazed at the door, feeling empty. He collapsed onto the bed spread-eagle. What had he been thinking? Just because they had shared one kiss – the other three didn't count, as Karin hadn't been her normal self, what with losing her memory and being taken over by her hollow – it had been ridiculous to think it meant anything. A single kiss, no matter how wonderful, meant nothing.

He closed his eyes, swallowing painful thoughts.

…

Sulkily, Karin sat down to do her homework. It struck her as somewhat ridiculous that she could just sit down to homework right after she had reconquered her hollow and_ awoken to something unforgivable, _but she needed to do _something_.

"Karin-ch- " Yuzu stopped abruptly. Karin turned to the doorway, annoyed.

"What?" Karin demanded snappily. She was upset not just with Toushirou, but with her whole family for not realizing that there had been a switcheroo between her and her hollow.

"You… clothing…" Yuzu stammered.

Karin looked down and only just realizing how scantily she was clad, flushed a deep red.

"!#%!"

Dressed now in extremely loose sweatpants and an even larger t-shirt normal, Karin sat down in a huff, intending to face her pre-calculus homework.

There was a knock on her window. Karin froze. She looked outside; it was already dark. She could only see his silhouette, but the presence was unmistakable.

"Kyo…"

**Reason for cut: **I figured that I should have Karin know about the _whole_ truth about Kyo before she met him again, not just about the fact that he's a puppet programmed to show affection to her.

**Deleted scene V2 – **Kyo going to the Kurosaki household, but "visiting" Toushirou first  
Toushirou's eyes opened immediately and he turned towards the window. He _really_ did not want to deal with this right now.

Kyo crouched there, glaring venomously at him.

"What have you been doing with Karin?"

'_I thought you said you were going to keep a tight watch over him, Urahara…_' Toushirou thought irritably. Out loud, "It's none of your business." Toushirou said shortly. "How did you find this place?"

"I followed you from that school. Now. I'll ask again. What have you been doing…" Kyo swallowed, "with my sister?"

Toushirou looked at him coolly. "You know what you just said is false." he stated.

Kyo froze. He growled softly, "Which part…"

Looking at Kyo through half lidded eyes, Toushirou elucidated, "The 'sister' part."

**Reason for cut: **I thought that Kyo should meet Karin first.

**Chapter 34 –** One of the battles in the Spirit King's Palace

**Deleted scene: **  
Ichigo stepped in. "I have a score to settle with this guy."

Karin protested, "My grudge comes first!" She had met Caballero before Ichigo, so _she_ had dibs.

The two siblings engaged in a glaring match, as Kyo was forced to fight off Caballero by himself.

Caballero laughed. "You're so sure you'll beat me, aren't you?"

The both turned to him and yelled simultaneously, "YES!"

"Forget it, let's attack him together!" Karin said.

**Reason for the cut:** I changed who faced who. Simple as that.

**Chapter 35 – **Where Kyo takes a critical hit from Aizen

**Deleted scene:**  
As Aizen calmly walked forward towards Titiritero, the first Espada grabbed Kyo by the shoulder to move him just in time.

To use him as a shield.

Kyo slowly looked down at Aizen's hand, thrust into his chest. He coughed out blood, and Aizen looked distastefully at him.

"Very clever of you, Titiritero, to use him to block my strike just in time. But you're too late." Then Aizen pulled out his hand and blood spurted out from where it had plunged into Kyo's chest. At the same time, Titiritero fell to his knees from a chest wound that Aizen had incurred in him even before he had injured Kyo.

"Though I believe in follow through, I don't think that you'll be able to rise again." Aizen cast an eye upon Kyo. "Nor will your puppet."

**Reason for the cut: **I realized that Kyo wasn't dying to protect Karin here. =_= Stupid me.

**Chapter 37** – The scene of Karin realizing that she was once part of the Spirit King

**Actual scene:  
**A woman appeared, and Karin immediately knew that she was the Spirit King.

'_**Yes. Now that you've realized, it is time for you to leave.'**_

Karin slowly stood, and saw the Spirit King was tall for a woman; about as tall as Karin would be when she was fully grown.

Resigned, she felt herself ebb away from that world of nothingness, back into the dimension of her nightmares.

**Deleted scene:  
**Memories flashed through Karin's mind.

**Flashback:**

_How did things become like this? First she'd gotten into an argument with her own zanpakutou for something she didn't even remember, next moment she'd been eaten by her own zanpakutou._

_Then she'd woken up among black flames. The dark flames had licked at her, but she was immune to fire. Yet the fire wasn't hot; they gave her a horrible cold feeling, and she realized that they were licking at her spiritual energy, draining it, ever so slowly, but surely._

_After several centuries, she'd devised a plan that would have even the slightest chance of getting her out of this place. Inside her zanpakutou. She felt even more spiritual energy get sucked out of her. She didn't have much time left. At this rate, she wouldn't last even twenty years. A slight chance was better than none._

_Arranging herself into lotus position, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, pulling from deep within her at something. Someone. A light emerged from her chest, and she opened her eyes. Looking at the light sadly, she said,_

_"I'll be parting with you forever, myself. You're the most I can send out of this place, and my only chance. I can only pray that you'll succeed. If not, at least you can live on."_

_She blew the ball of light out, and it disappeared, into the human world._

**Flashback End**

Karin opened her eyes. The memory belonged to her; but at the same time, it wasn't hers. It was the Spirit King's.

**Reason for cut:** No reason…? Too many flashbacks? Maybe I wanted to keep the readers guessing?

**A/N:** Okay, here comes the explicit scene. *shoos minor-age readers away* I saved this deleted scene 2nd to last because this borders on M-rated content. If you've gotten this far, hardcore-HitsuKarin-interaction fans… you shall be justly rewarded(?)

**Chapter 30** – The Hollow Karin… and her seduction?

**Actual Scene:**

Swallowing, Toushirou tried to subtly scoot away from Karin. "D-don't you have homework to do?" He tried not to look down at her cleavage. There was only so much a boy could take…

"There are things more important than homework." Karin had closed the distance and was practically on his lap.

"We… shouldn't be doing this… People might – "

"Might see?" Karin finished coyly for him. When he nodded frantically, Karin stretched out a leg and kicked the door, which snapped shut. "There. Problem solved." She brought her leg back slowly, giving Toushirou a good long look at it.

Seeing Karin's slender legs, Toushirou grit his teeth. _'Get a grip on yourself, Hitsugaya Toushirou… Keep a tight leash on your self-control.'_ But the 'leash' was already taut to the point of breaking.

Leaning her face closer to his, Karin dark red eyes burned with desire and she bit her lip seductively. That was the last straw. Whatever threads of Toushirou's remaining self-restraint snapped, and he brought down Karin's mouth to his in a bruising kiss.

Grinning against his lips, the hollow Karin slipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out the dagger.

Then the real Karin opened her eyes.

She took inventory of what she was doing. Toushirou had a hand on the back of her neck and was kissing her fiercely. They were in a _very_ compromising position. And worst of all, she held a dagger in her hand.  
Horrified, Karin pulled back.

Next thing she did was drop the dagger and slap Toushirou.

…

**Deleted… [borderline if not completely M-rated] scene:** _**- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED -**_

Toushirou was sweating. "D-don't you have homework to do?"

He tried not to look down at her cleavage. There was only so much a boy could take. He forced his eyes to stay on her face, but that didn't help one bit; her face was, if possible, even more bewitching.

"There are things more important than homework." Karin was practically on his lap.

Scrambling back to the back of his bed to put some distance between them, Toushirou stammered, "We… shouldn't be doing this… People might – "

"Might see?" Karin finished coyly for him. When he nodded frantically, Karin stretched out a leg and silently swung the door shut, giving Toushirou a good look at her long, slender leg. Toushirou found his eyes automatically drawn to Karin's leg, like magnets.

"There. Problem solved." Karin purred. She drew her leg back, bringing his gaze to both her legs. They looked so graceful, so _smooth, _and he wondered how it would feelt to have his hands run over them…

Alarmed at his own line of thought, Toushirou shook his head, trying to shake it out. What was wrong with him? Maybe this gigai was malfunctioning; excreting an excess of hormones. Yes. That had to be it. It was his gigai's fault.

His thoughts were interrupted by Karin's silky whispers.

"Yuzu never comes to this area except on cleaning days. The old man is at the clinic. And Ichi-nii won't be back for a while… " Karin was smiling slyly at him, crimson eyes glittering as she slinked over to him on all fours. He saw her tank top slip slightly, revealing a pale shoulder.

Pressing his back up into the headboard, Toushirou clenched his teeth and closed his eyes tightly, trying in vain to shove all impure thoughts from his mind.

_'Think of all of Hyourinmaru's attacks, Hitsugaya Toushirou. Let's see… Thousand years Ice pri…son… '_ He could feel her approaching. _'Uhh… Dragon Hail… Flower?'_ He couldn't even remember his bankai attacks properly… what was Karin doing to him?…! His eyes were still firmly glued shut, but he could tell she was inching closer. _'I, Icicle Flock…_' Still she crept closer; he could feel the mattress sink very slightly every time she stretched out a limb towards him… He could just _envision_ her, crawling towards him, catlike, irresistibly…

Obviously, focusing on Hyourinmaru's attacks wasn't working; he would have to switch to something else. _'H, hadou attacks, hadou…'_ He started sweating as he felt her approaching closer and closer. _'Bya…kurai… the incantation is…' _He couldn't remember the incantation. She came ever closer… _'okay, baku…dou attacks…'_ He couldn't remember any of those either. He could swear her breath was on his face… His eyes shot open when he felt hands slide under his shirt, brushing his torso. Her face was dangerously close to his. He gulped. His self-control was rapidly stretching to its maximum.

"That means we're in a room…" She drawled, her fingers lightly drawing patterns upon his abdomen. "With a closed door…" Her whispers had his skin tingling. Ever so slowly, she straddled Toushirou, giving him yet another good long look at her creamy legs. Karin's every prolonged movement looked so alluring…

"_All. Alone._"

Desperately clinging to whatever self-restraint he had left, Toushirou slid down the headboard in a last-ditch attempt to escape from Karin's advances.

That turned out to be a huge mistake; Karin was now on top of him, her hands on his chest. Her hair, which fell like a curtain around them, smelled of enticing cinnamon. And he could feel her warm breath on his neck. Karin lowered her face to his with a feline smile, her chest just barely brushing his. Her dark-red eyes glowed with desire, and she bit her her lower lip seductively.

That was the last straw. Whatever threads of Toushirou's remaining self-control snapped and he brought down Karin's mouth to his in a bruising kiss. Kurosaki Ichigo was going to _kill _him for this, Toushirou vaguely thought. But she tasted, felt too good, for him to stop now.

She was all lean muscle, yet she felt so soft, so _warm_… _burning_, even… That clashed with his natural element and brought out his aggressive side. Rolling over so that he was on top of her, Toushirou trapped Karin beneath him and kissed her with a ferocity he hadn't known he possessed. She kissed him ferociously back, nipping sharply at his lower lip, her tongue battling to dominate his. He fought back; no way was he going to lose in that battle.

When Karin arched her back and ground her hips against his, Toushirou groaned and kissed her with even more fervor.

Then he removed his mouth from hers to nuzzle her in the crook of her neck. Karin made a vague sound of protest, which turned into a moan as he sucked on her neck. When he buried his face into her hair as if he could devour the sweet cinnamon, she returned the favor by lightly running her tongue over his collarbone, teasing him. He shuddered; it was as if an electric shock had run through him. He had his revenge by gently biting her neck, the tip of his tongue just barely touching her skin, mouth curling up into a grin as he felt Karin squirm beneath him.

Pausing in his ministrations, Toushirou looked into Karin's dark-red eyes and said huskily, "You're a temptress, you know that?"

She replied with a whisper laced with breathlessness, "Only with _you_."

Toushirou crashed his lips against hers, and they were grappling once again. Their bodies entangled, and Toushirou became unbearably hot. His shirt felt extremely tight, restricting, and he wished it would just disappear.

As if Karin had read his mind and was thinking the same thing, she began to fumble with the buttons of his already open collar, pulling at his shirt as if she wanted to tear it off. Toushirou heard a rip of a seam - probably from his shirt - but he didn't care. The back of Toushirou's mind whispered to him that what they were doing was very, _very_ wrong, but he ignored it. He had already long since succumbed to his temptations.

Once his shirt was off with minimal damage, there was very little cloth keeping them apart.

Wrapping her bare legs around Toushirou's waist, Karin tugged at his hair, pulling his head towards her supple chest, only a thin layer of cloth keeping his mouth from her bare skin. As it was, her tank top had ridden up her torso and her smooth stomach contacted directly with his toned chest.

Karin raked one hand through his silver hair and the other hand down his back, making Toushirou wince, but he became all the more aroused at that. Past the pain, Toushirou grinned; she was feisty, and liked her that way.

They were now chest to chest, bodies pressed tightly together, and Toushirou felt Karin's body respond accordingly to his. All inhibitions long gone -

**A/N: Uhhhm…**  
I stopped there. I flaked out when it came to the actual deed. I just wasn't comfortable writing this scene (as much as I guiltily enjoyed it). And I would have had to rate the whole effin story M for just a single scene. =_=;; plus, I didn't consider it a very good revenge. More like _rewarding_ him. A proper revenge against _Karin_, maybe.

**A/N:** Phew. The next deleted scenes from the epilogue are just fluffy/humorous. Thank the Lord.

**Epilogue** – in a scenario that Toushirou had stayed at the Kurosaki Clinic while he was unconscious.

**Another alt ending, that was deemed unfit:**  
As she trudged back home, she pondered if it was high time to tell her family what had taken place between her and the two Spirit Kings. What should she say to the others? She recalled the Spirit King saying, _'If you're like me, you will tend to speak the truth.'_

Rolling her eyes to the heavens, Karin wondered, would they believe her if she said she was part of the Spirit King, sent down to the human world to be reborn… to defeat the Spirit King's – her – own zanpakutou?  
Jamming her hands into her pockets, Karin snorted.

"Sounds ridiculous even to me." She muttered.

"You're talking to yourself again, Kurosaki…"

She whirled around at the familiar voice and nearly jumped out of her skin when she found herself nose to nose with a certain silver haired boy.

Clutching her heart, Karin gasped, "Jeez, don't surprise me like that, Toushirou! I didn't even sense - " She stopped abruptly, recalling that he had lost all his spiritual powers. He _couldn't _give off any spiritual pressure, even if he wanted to.

Hastily switching subjects, Karin demanded, "When did you wake up? Are you even supposed to be walking around? And since when did you call me by my last name!"

Toushirou inserted a finger in his ear as Karin yelled.

"Alright, alright, Karin, sheesh." He walked at her side, and said, "And I woke up a while back. Right after you left, I'm told." He glared at her. "Couldn't wait for me to wake up, eh? Soccer's more important to you."

Karin reddened. "Of course not, you idiot! You're way more…" But she bit her lip. She couldn't finish the sentence.

**Reason for the cut: **Halfway through this scenario, I realized that the more normal procedure would be to take Toushirou back to Soul Society.

…

**Deleted scene 1 – **Scene deleted **from** the alt. ending.

The night found them on the roof, gazing at the stars. Toushirou sat behind Karin, her back against his chest and his arms around her waist.

"I have a story I want to tell you."

Karin was curious. "Is it about God and the Tree again?"

She felt Toushirou shake his head against her head. "…It's about my… childhood friend." He sounded apprehensive. Like he expected Karin to get angry. And Karin didn't like that.

"And I have something I want to tell you." Karin responded, turning around to face him. "I don't care about any past loves, girlfriends, or crushes you had. I don't care even if you were Soul Society's biggest playboy," Toushirou's face twisted a bit at this, "because you're mine now."

Karin found the surprised look he gave her at the last statement absolutely endearing.

So she kissed him, and after a moment, he smiled against her lips and began to kiss back.

…

**Deleted scene 2 -** (This cut-out is right after the alt. epilogue, but it takes place in the living room, as Toushirou didn't have a chance to get on the roof in this scenario. So this could have actually happened, had Toushirou not chosen to stargaze ¬_¬)

"Alright… Since you're too clueless to even know the answer to such an obvious question, I'll just spell it out for you."

Expectantly, Karin raised her eyes to Toushirou's and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I love you, Kurosaki Karin."

She smiled and was about to turn her head for a kiss, when they heard a voice, "…Get a room."

Ichigo was looking at them as if he'd seen something he'd rather have not.

"On second thought, I take that back. Toushirou. Kissing is as far as the line goes. Don't cross it. Until Karin is... thirty." Ichigo said, his eyes promising trouble should Toushirou choose to ignore his warning.

Karin snorted. "_Thirty_? What, you want me to be an old maid?" She crossed her arms. "And what I do with anyone isn't any of your business, Ichi-nii."

"What? I'm your older brother!"

"So? Who died and made _you_ king of my life?"

Toushirou tried not to smile at Karin's contrariness, but got a strong feeling he failed when he saw Ichigo glare at him. But when Ichigo looked back at Karin, her body language the epitome of stubbornness, he held up two hands in surrender.

"Hey, who am I to interrupt you two?" That was very different from his previous statement claiming to have a right over her private life as he was her older brother. Ichigo went up the stairs to his own room, giving Toushirou one last warning look.

…

**Deleted Scene 3 – **Also a scene deleted from the alt. ending, companion to the one above. (So again, could have actually happened. ¬_¬)

Toushirou wrapped his arms around Karin's waist and pulled her close, surprising her.

"What's this? Have you suddenly changed your mind?" She sounded irritated.

Toushirou smirked into her hair. "You wish, Kurosaki."

Leaning into him and tilting her head back to look at him, Karin said, annoyed, "Look here, Mr. almighty Hitsugaya-former-taichou, it wasn't like I asked you to start and suddenly lose your nerve halfway through, just because of my brother." She started to stand, but he grabbed her around the waist and she went tumbling back onto him.

"What was that for?" Karin huffed.

Toushirou had a sly smile on his face.

"Should I take that as permission to continue?"

…

…

**A/N: **I bow to you all for getting this far! It's been a damned long, twisted, and gnarly path, but if you're reading this, you've stuck with me till the very end! I take off my hat to you for your tenacity!

Signing off for good…

- Haeyin


End file.
